A Soldier in Tokyo
by RBL-M1A2Tanker
Summary: Self-insertion. Strong language, major insanity, and military talk. (Work in progress) Ch. 8 Up!
1. Prologue: This is Alpha 50 Delta, over

**_**Disclaimer:_** Sailor Moon and all character names and distinctive likenesses thereof are copyright Naoko Takeuchi and the production companies.

Not really sure what made me get the crazy idea of doing a self-insertion…in Sailor Moon of all things. Probably because I have a strange sense of humor, or just because I felt like punishing myself writing this instead of studying for finals. o_O

Oh well, on to the insanity! And don't shoot me if I get the attacks wrong, I don't have my research material in front of me. Enjoy!

Edit: As of 25 June 2003 I have cleaned up some confusing issues within this first chapter. Anything with an asterick (*******) by it will have an explaination as to what it is at the bottom of the page. Sorry about the confusion.

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RBL_M1A2Tanker**

**_A Soldier in Tokyo_**

**__**

Prologue: This is Dragon fife-zero delta, over.

"Got a light?" A soldier mumbled to another. The latter, a short stocky man in BDUs*******, LBE******* and Kevlar helmet shakes his head. The short one also carried an M4 Carbine assault rifle, made to be collapsible and adaptable. It looked like a shorter version of the venerable M16 rifle. It was late at night, about 0155 hours. The surrounding woodland was quiet, with a bird chirping once in awhile in contended rest…something the two men wish they could do at the moment.

"Now Lott, you should know better by now than to ask me if I have a light." The short man chides his companion. "I mean we've been crewing together for over a year now on the same damn tank, and have I yet come out to the field with a pack of smokes?"

His buddy chuckles, "Yea, I know. But I get such a kick getting ya worked up every time I ask ya." 

"Ehhh…go chuck a fucking round already." The short one said, without malice.

Lott snorts, "Shit, I would, if it'd get me out of this bullshit."

"Amen to that."

Both men were soldiers. Specifically, they were M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank crewmen, trained on the United States Army's newest and baddest piece of high-tech machinery, the M1A2*******.

What these two tankers were doing though, had absolutely nothing to do with tanks. They were deep in the middle of doing what all soldiers have to do, even in peacetime…pull guard. They were on a late night shift watching the radios, listening for any special orders that may come down from command. So far, it had been a quiet night, with nothing more than the usual checking in to let command know that they were still where they said they were. It wasn't wise to call up and say they weren't where they said they were...those command peoples really get upset about that for some reason.

Lott was a fairly tall man. Dark, strongly built, with a mischievous smile, he looked like nothing more than a shirker, a bum. But when it came time to get to business, he was a cool customer. Serious, right to the point, and always on task in the field, he was the best man to have helping you do whatever needed done on the tank. His job was to load the 120mm smoothbore cannon of the M1A2, and he was good at it*******. It was timed that he could load a 45-55 pound depleted-uranium shell, arm the gun, and clear the recoil area in less than 3 seconds, and maintain that speed. 

The other was a man who stood no higher than 5'6. Stocky, pale, with short red/orange hair, he was hard to get his be-freckled face to smile. His manner was always courteous, yet he questioned more things than a man of his rank really had the right to. In the field or back on base, as serious as he looked, he could always be found telling a story or cracking a joke. He was the driver*******. It is disputable as to just how good he was at his job, but it was well known that, no matter how good at his job he was, he was damn fast. No tank driver ever drove as fast as he did when it came time to practice and qualify. Because of his small stature and fireplug shape, he went by the handle of "Tank."

"How much longer till the shift is up man?" Tank asked Lott. Lott looked at his watch.

"I'd say about five mikes*******, and about damn time too. I'm freezing my ass off." Lott shivered.

Tank rolled his eyes, "Shit, this isn't cold. When you're seeing your breath and you can't feel your nose, now that is cold!"

"Well, I can't feel my dick, does that count?" Lott grinned.

"What's the difference? You can't feel what you don't have." Tank grinned lopsidedly.

Lott looked at him, crestfallen. "That's fucked up man, especially since your mom wasn't complaining last night." He now grinned triumphantly.

"Just remember Lott, my mom charges more than yours does, and my mom's free." Tank verbally parried.

Before Lott could reply, they could hear footsteps approach. Both serious now, Lott pulled out his sidearm, a 9mm Berretta pistol, while Tank lifted the rifle. Both men aimed it at the entrance of the armored personnel carrier as Lott called out softly, "Halt! Who goes there?"

"Sergeant Evans and Specialist Gomez."

"Advance and be recognized." The footsteps came closer, and two inky shapes appeared from the darkness.

"Halt. Masters of." Lott said the password.

"The Universe." Came the countersign. Both men lowered their weapons, for even though they didn't have any ammunition for them it was best to go through the motions for whenever they did. They crawled out of the APC to allow their replacements to take their places inside.

Evans grumbled as they stepped on the APC's ramp, "Who the fuck came up with these dumbass passwords?" He sighed. "Anything going on?" 

"Nah, all quiet Sarge." Lott replied.

"I'm not a scum-sucking fish dammit. It's Sergeant." Evans chided, without any heat.

"Oh yea, hard to tell in the dark." For that, Lott got a kick in the ass.

"Get the fuck outta here Lott, you bitch." Evans chuckled.

Tank and Lott ambled away chuckling to themselves as they headed to their tank, called A-50, or by it's unofficial name, "Azazel"*******. When they reached the rear of the tank, Lott reached up and grabbed the heavy metal lid that covered the fuel cap, placed a booted foot in the sprocket that made the tank move, and hauled himself up. Tank called to him, "Hey man, I'll be right back. I'm going to hit the tree line."

"Alright man. I'm going to sleep, mind if I use your drivers hole?"*******

"Naw, go ahead. I prefer the back-deck. Let's me straighten my back out."

"Alright, thanks." Lott ambled away out of site to the front of the vehicle. Tank turned around and walked wearily over to a line of trees not more than ten feet away. Finding a particularly useful bush, he proceeded to answer Natures call. 

"Ahhh…much better. Damn, I shouldn't have drunk so much water." He reconsidered the comment, "No, it was probably a good idea. Was damn hot today." His business finished, he took one step away from the trees when he heard something moving deeper into the woods. He froze. _"Animal? No…there are not enough feet, and the footfalls are too heavy. Better check it out."_ He brought the M4 forward into the ready position, keeping it aimed forward and low and quickly moved into the woods.

He found some footprints in the moist ground, and still heard the sounds of twigs snapping as the figure kept moving. Tank kept following.

_"Still moving deeper into the woods. It's probably a damn local trying to see if he can get his hands on some pre-Surplus items."_ He thought to himself as he continued to follow the prints. _"Sure is easy to follow though, almost like the asshole wants to be followed. These guys usually don't run in straight lines. Foot seems narrow too. Best be careful, some of them are crazy fuckers."_ He carefully stepped over a gnarled tree root, when two things happened. One, he noticed that the prints stopped suddenly, and two, he sensed a presence behind him.

"Shit!" He exclaimed as he whirled about. 

It wasn't fast enough.

He felt something press against his neck and a small hiss followed it. He felt his limbs go numb, and he collapsed into the cradle the root made. Before darkness overtook him, he saw a lithe form with rather long hair step in front of him. 

_"Damn…taken down by a fucking hippie. I'll never live this down. This is just not my day."_ It was his last coherent thought for quite awhile.

**_Several hours later…_**

He saw red first as he regained consciousness. That was because his eyes were still closed, which puzzled him.

_"Ok…one step at a time. Do a mental body check first."_ Without moving, he felt every part of his body, making sure he could still feel and sense his limbs. His heart rate was slow, but was picking up speed in short order. His breath was low, but as he waited, he could regain more and more of his lung capacity, taking in deeper breaths, clearing his head. He felt the handle of the rifle in his hand still. His helmet sat heavily on his head, and a knot in the root dug deeply into his back. 

Taking the next step, he slowly pried his eyes open, which he squinted tightly as the pupils adjusted to the early morning light.

"Aww shit!" He lamented. "I've been here all fucking night! My ass is grass." He winced as he sat up, his muscles protesting against any sudden movements. He ignored them as he raised himself to a kneeling, then standing position. He looked about himself, slinging his rifle as he did so. 

"Something doesn't feel right. Why do I get the feeling that my dumb ass was left behind?" Soldiers have a sixth sense when it comes to matters of where they were and where their unit was. A soldier could tell something was wrong when he was still at his post and nobody had come to get him in a long time (it's called common sense), although, in Tank's case, this was a bit extreme, but our hero doesn't know it yet. 

He looked himself over, and, other than leaves and needles, wasn't the worse for wear, excluding the dent in his back and crick in his neck. He twisted his head to the side, fixing the latter problem with a loud sustained pop.

"Whew…that's better." He rubbed his neck for a moment. "Well, I best get back to the unit and take my ass chewing. That was pretty fucking stupid of me to go chasing a sound like that." He wondered why he did it. No answer came to mind readily.

He started to back track when he noticed something was wrong immediately. "The trees…they're all wrong. What the fuck…" He looked about himself. Instead of mostly pines, he saw nothing but deciduous trees, such as oak, ash, and others. He became highly alert, all fog in his mind gone, replaced with absolute confusion. The rifle was back in his hands, useless for the most part, but it would make do as a club if needed. He started to head for the outer boundary of the tree line, back in the direction that he took in last night, but was much more cautious in his motions. He darted from tree to tree, not certain if it would help, but figured it was better than just ambling along until someone ran into him…or something. _"Death by bear or wildcat isn't what I had in mind for when I go to the great beyond."_ He thought to himself grimly.

Not far, he saw that beyond the thick forest growth it became lighter, signifying an open field. He hoped it was his company's assembly area but doubted it*******. He slipped between cover slowly, until he finally came to the edge of the woods. Peeking around a large tree, he expected to see tanks, infantry tents, maybe even just an open grassy field. What he saw shocked him though.

His jaw wide, he gazed upon tall structures, and roads with only slight traffic on them. Before him, travelling from right to left about 20 feet out, he could see a sidewalk leading to the road. It went down a couple steps, the broke off into a T, becoming a different sidewalk. Alongside this one, starting near the steps, a white brick wall with boxwood bushes in them. They hadn't yet grown together to form a continuous bush, so they looked like balls of yarn on a stick. Lampposts were placed at equal distances apart from each other, with matching lampposts opposite them on the sidewalk. Shops had their metal grates up, showing their wares to any and all comers. Large signs filled the spaces above the entrances to said shops, broadcasting who they where. Problem was Tank didn't have a clue as to what they said. All the signs were in Japanese.

"Awww fuck." He swore under his breath. "My ass is in Japan! And here I thought my day couldn't get any worse. Out-fucking-standing." 

He was pretty sure it was Japanese, having read somewhere that the Japanese people wrote the strange symbols in an up and down pattern. Then again, it had been awhile since he had last read about the Japanese culture, so it was quite possible he was wrong. He wasn't wrong about the general location though, by the many Oriental folks that had walked by his position on the sidewalk. None saw him, or looked his way, thankfully. He didn't like the idea of the locals seeing him, especially considering his garb, and the fact that he was armed, ammo-less as he was. 

"Shit shit shit. How the fuck did I get here?" His mind whirled, totally at a loss. He slipped back into the woods, away from any possible prying eyes, while he pondered his predicament.

_"Ok, sitrep******* isn't good. I'm down to a canteen and a half of water, no food…wait, one MRE*******," _ he felt the bulky thing in his BDU pants pocket, _"no ammo, two weapons, a camo paint pad, pen and notepad, and me in camouflage and helmet. No clue where the unit is, and they haven't a clue where I am. Overall, I'm in a shitty situation."_ He leaned up against the same tree he awoke against, placing the rifle against his shoulder. He slipped the heavy Kevlar helmet off, and ran a hand through his short hair, scratching some places.

_"Alright Tanker, what do you do?"_ He assessed his options. _"Well, I can't go out into the public like this. Probably get hauled into jail or something. So I have to get some civilian garb. Food, water and shelter are also priorities. Anything I do will attract attention, since I'm quite the foreigner here, so I'll have to post out a store and 'acquire' what I need at night." _ He nodded, feeling he had a pretty good idea what to do now.

"Well, this shit sucks, but until I can get to the bottom of this, and get back to my unit, I'm stuck here." He murmured aloud to himself. Placing the Kevlar with the round side on the ground, he pulled out his pistol, and his weapon cleaning gear, and proceeded to disassemble and clean his weapons, for lack of anything better else to do.

A few weeks passed, and while he didn't manage to get his hands on any clothing, he did manage to locate an old tent that had been discarded in the woods. It was an old tarp actually, but for his purposes it would do very nicely. At night he could wander about almost at will. A boon came to him on his fourth night when he discovered a local food vendor didn't lock his back door, and there weren't any security devices near or around it. The soldier took several items, making sure to take it from the warehouse stock, not the shelf stock. It was too easy to notice something missing if he did. Within the store, he did finally confirm that he was in Japan by the roadmaps that were stocked in back.

Ammunition wasn't quick in coming, the sports and hardware store was a lot more stringent about their security, not that it would take much to keep him out. A locked door was really all that was needed. He got lucky when he ran into a local street tough, who wasn't near as quick on his feet as the tanker was. A Kevlar helmet to the head before he caught a glimpse of him was enough to take him out of the picture. Rummaging the lads things, he acquired a small tanto knife and self-sharpening sheaf. 

"Nice…always wanted to get one of these. Thanks dick." He said cheerfully to the prostrate and out cold teen. In the boys trouser belt, he found an old pistol of an unfamiliar make that used 9mm bullets…all three of them. "Shit kid. You use this thing, and it's liable to blow up on you." He scowled at the pistol, which was slightly rusted, the barrel foul with carbon, and the moving parts in dire need of oil. The bullets where new though, signifying that he'd either used the pistol before, or had just gotten it. He pocketed the bullets, disassembled the pistol with great difficulty, and pocketed the parts, leaving the kid with the handle assembly. He also kept the knife, and left the kid in the alley. He tossed the parts into a hole he scooped out of the ground back at his little campsite.

Water was another thing entirely. The food vendor kept him supplied in dry stores, but, oddly, the owner locked the bathrooms, cutting him off from using the sinks for water. The park itself lacked water fountains. It wasn't until the fifth day of his first week that he located a source of water. A creek ran through the woods, giving him a long lasting supply, so long as he boiled it first.

"Ok, not bad." He nodded appreciatively at his findings and current possesions a few days after his 'acquirement' of the knife and bullets. Laid out before him were several canned goods, his weapons, the three bullets, two full canteens, his helmet, and the LBE. He placed the two tin cups that came with the canteens back in the canteen pouch, and then placed the canteens within them. "Well, might as well get some more explore time in." He said as he shrugged the LBE harness on. Over a week ago he had painted his face using his camo paint pad so his pale skin wouldn't give him away at night, making it easier for him to blend in the darkness. His face was rough, rougher than he'd ever had it, and he was pretty sure that he was ripe, if not overripe. He couldn't tell, but figured that since the mosquitoes had left him alone over a day ago it was a good indication. He placed the bullets in the magazine for his pistol, loaded it, and then slid the pistol into his holster. He slipped the sheaf of the knife into the top of his boot, and then wrapped the strap around his leg. It was now in an easy to reach place if needed.

He placed his canned food and his rifle in the tarp, and tied it up. Using a rope that had been attached to the tarp, he pulled the tarp high into the tree, far out of reach of prying eyes. He tied it off on a decently high branch on another tree a couple feet away. "It'll do for now." He murmured, as he grasped his helmet. Putting it on, he quickly left his camp, and headed out into the park.

Before he reached the edge, he saw some bright flashing lights. He froze in place, fearing he had finally been discovered. "Shit!" He exclaimed as he took cover. Fortunately it was near the edge, allowing him to peer around the tree, and into the park. This time he got his second shock since arriving…correction…awaking in Japan.

Before him on the sidewalk was a large…creature of some sort, facing off against five girls in what looked like school uniforms of a sort, made up of a white tight top and skirt, with a large bow parked between their breasts. All had a headband on, and each of their skirts where a different color than the other. 

_"Fuck…why does this seem familiar now?"_ He rubbed his eyes a moment, and then looked again. _"Yup, still there."_ One girl, with two small buns on top of her head with long pigtails trailing from them was shouting something at the creature, making several silly postures. All of the others did the same silly postures as well. Tank raised an eyebrow, _"What the hell are they doing? Are they mimes or something?"_. He gazed at the...thing across from them, and nearest him.

The creature looked to be a cross with a woman and a pistol handle. Two shapely legs protruded from the handle, with the handle itself being the butt, literally. The upper body was made up of where the barrel would be, with the trigger placed where its' stomach would be. The head looked like a flat coin, with only the nose and cheeks raised from the surface. The arms extended out from the slide of the assembly, and how the creature could put breasts on it, simply baffled the soldier, but somehow it did. 

_"Strange…that handle looks…shit! That's the handle assembly I left with that dumb ass kid!"_ He started, recognizing the handle he left with the street tough some nights ago. The creature now screamed something back at the girls, and pulled its' trigger. From its' mouth, a black ball shaped projectile shot forth, scattering the girls. One started to chant something, and within her hands a bow made of flame appeared. Before she could release anything, the creature fired again, this time getting a direct hit. She flew back a few feet, and crumpled.

"Oh Hell no!" Tank said angrily. He rushed from cover, and charged the critter, which was now taking shots at the other women, hitting another, this one with short blue hair. His heart pumping, and the adrenaline rushing, he leapt up and landed a booted kick into the side of the creature, ramming it into a lamppost. It shook it's head and looked up at its' new attacker.

Sailor Moon blinked at the newcomer. His face was rough, unshaven, apparently covered with some kind of dark paint. He was dressed in a dark uniform of some kind, with splotches of green, black, and brown all over it. His feet were clad in black boots, tightened with straps instead of strings. Upon his head was a helmet, also colored like his uniform. Upon his body was some kind of harness, with several items clinking about on it, and in his hand he held a weapon.

"Hey fucker," the newcomer addressed the youma in a different tongue, "don't you know it's not nice to hit the ladies?" His eyes were hard as he gazed down the sights of his pistol. 

_"Good work Tanker, you got its' attention. Now what? Do you shoot the thing?"_ A little voice said in the back of his mind. _"Aah shaddap, I'll deal with it when I get to that point. I'm working the issue, so if you wouldn't mind..."_ He angrily told the voice.

"Sailor Moon, who's that?" Jupiter said, wary. 

"I don't know, I've never seen him before." Was the reply.

"Is he a friend? Or an enemy?" Mars asked, also wary.

"Well, he isn't fighting us is he?" Mercury tossed out.

"Yea, and he's kinda cute too." Everyone turned to Venus, who blushed. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I had to say it."

The Youma rose slowly, gazing at the soldier. "You are a fool human. Now your energy will be added to my collection!" It pulled out a crystal of some sort, and aimed it at Tank. He blinked, puzzled as the monster shook its crystal in a vain attempt to make it work. 

"I haven't a clue what you said, but is that thing supposed to do something?" He asked, smirking. "If it is, I think it's broken. Here, lemme make sure." And with that, Tank aimed at the crystal and fired. The bullet ran true, hitting the crystal and shattering it, releasing its' energies. The bullet traveled up the youmas' arm and lodged itself into its' armpit. It howled in pain, clutching its wounded extremity. 

"How dare you! You die!" It cried as it charged Tank faster than he could dodge. It swiped the pistol out of his grip, and then took swing at his head. 

"Oh fuck!" He managed to get out as he ducked much too slowly. The blow landed on his helmet, sending him flying. The youma shrieked, holding its hand in pain from the blow on the bulletproof helmet. 

Tank staggered to his feet, shacking his head. "Damn…that hurt. That's it, you're mine now bitch!" He snarled as he rushed it. The Sailor Scouts watched…transfixed as a regular person, even if he was strangely clad, launched himself at the youma. He slid, tangling his legs into its' legs, tripping it. He quickly jumped on top of it, and landed several blows to its head before he realized that wasn't working. _"Damn, that hurts! I need something better. I got it!"_ He yanked his helmet off and proceeded to give the evil being the K-pod treatment. 

On every downswing, he would cry some obscenity, or curse. 

"Bitch!" Slam

"Fucker!" Slam

"Take that!" Slam

"Die dammit!" Slam

"Attack women will you?" Slam

"Think you're getting up now?" Slam

"Who's your daddy?" Slam

"No soup for you!" Slam

"You're my bitch now!" Slam

At the last exclamation, the youma finally got enough sense to take a swing back in response. This time, it connected with his head and not the helmet. He rolled several feet away, not far from the Scouts as little tanks rolled about his head.

_"Ok, so far, so good. I've gotten its attention, and now I've gone and pissed it off. I'm getting good at this distraction stuff. Aww to hell with this shit…it hurts to damn much."_ He thought groggily as he struggled to get up. The youma wasn't in much better condition. Tank placed a shaking hand down, and grasped something cool. He looked…it was his sidearm. He smiled wickedly.

As the youma finally lifted its head, it gazed into a barrel. 

"Night Gracie." He pulled the trigger, and the bullet lodged into its forehead. It collapsed like a heavy sack of grain. Sighing deeply, he holstered the 9mm, and then kicked the monster for good measure. Slipping the K-pod back on, he turned, only to face the Sailor Scouts. 

"Ahh…Howdy." He said cheerfully. _"Ok…now what?"_ He looked into at the girls, and they looked back in return, a couple curious, a couple in awe…and one in shock.

_"Shock? Uh oh."_ He felt something rise behind him, so he quickly ducked and rolled to the left, just as Sailor Jupiter fired a blast. "Jupiter Oak Evolution!" The youma screeched in pain, its' skin sizzling, smoke pouring. 

"Moon Tiara Attack!" Sailor Moon finished the job, and the creature collapsed again, only this time, its' body melted away.

"Ok…remind me never to do that again." Tank said aloud, to no one in particular. 

"Who are you mister?" Jupiter asked. Tank didn't reply, as he looked himself over for any injuries. _"Well, other than a little bit of a headache, I didn't too badly for myself."_ Jupiter scowled, thinking he was ignoring her.

"Hey, I asked you a question." Her tone was demanding, and Tank looked up quizzically. 

"Hmm? Are you trying to talk to me?" He placed a finger to his ear, tapped it, then scratched his head, then shrugged, in an attempt to let them know he didn't understand them. "Sorry ladies, I don't speak Japanese." He tried a different tack..."Me no speakea Japanea, comprende?" 

One of them understood what he said though…from the moment he arrived. Sailor Mercury was blushing quite fiercely as she remembered all that he said during the battle. A couple of the other Scouts noticed. "Hey Mercury, what's wrong?"

"Ahh.." she stammered, "n-nothing. I just know what he was saying the whole time. He speaks English. He doesn't know Japanese."

The proverbial light bulb clicked on all their faces. 

"So what is he then? A gajinn?"

Tank interrupted. "Hey now, I don't know how to speak it, but I know some Japanese words, and I'm not sure I like being called a gajinn." 

"I'm sorry sir. It's nothing personal." Mercury replied apologetically.

"Finally! Someone who speaks English around here." Tank said in relief. He took a couple steps closer into the lamplight, giving the Scouts a better look at him. His face was even rougher in the skeletal light, with green, brown, and black paint smeered all over his face, making it impossible to tell what he looked like, even in the dark. Venus gave an coy glance over the strangers body, and was the first to notice a flap of fabric hanging by a string on the left side of his chest.

"Hey, he's been cut!" Venus exclaimed, pointing at his uniform. Tank looked, and sure enough, the youma had made a cut in his uniform. The monster had cleanly cut off the nametape, and nearly took the pocket that was below it with it. 

"Damn. This was one of my good BDUs too." He muttered, fingering the hanging pocket on his chest.

Mercury looked closer. On the right side of his uniform was another nametape. This one stated in large letters, "**US ARMY**," upon which she started. 

"What? What is it Mercury?" Sailor Moon asked, concerned. Tank blinked in response. "What now?"

"This man is in the United States Army! He's a soldier!" She exclaimed. Everyone looked at Tank now in more surprise, making him feel highly uncomfortable. 

"Umm…would you gals please stop that? I'm starting to think I was growing a second head or something." He said. 

"Sorry sir." Mercury said automatically. 

Equally automatically, Tank replied, "Don't call me Sir, I'm a Sergeant, I work for a living." _"Now why did I have to go and say that? And I'm not a Sergeant yet, you idiot."_ He slapped himself mentally.

"Sorry, Sergeant." Tank had to stop himself from making the other automatic comment, _"Oh, so I'm a sorry Sergeant now am I?"_

"That's ok. I apologize, I shouldn't have snapped. It was an automatic thing." He apologized, a little germ of a memory starting to grow as the adrenaline dissipated.

"So what do we call him Ami?" Mars asked. Ami translated.

"Call me Tank, Tanker, or Sergeant. Any of those will work." Tank responded. _"Well, I may not have my Sergeant stripes yet, but I best get used to hearing it now for when I do…when I get back."_

"Now, may I ask who you all are?" Tank had a sneaking suspicion that he knew, but wanted to be certain.

"Certainly! We are the Sailor Scouts, defenders of….sir, er, Sergeant? Are you alright?" 

Tank was not all right though. He had collapsed to the ground, not in pain, but in anguish. "Shit! I knew it! Dammit! My sorry ass is being punished for all the stupid crap I've pulled over the years!" He proceeded to slam his helmeted head into the grass. The Scouts watched in abject confusion and surprise as he beat himself up for several minutes. Finally though, he came out of it. Taking a deep breath, he stood back up, and faced them, things much more clear now than they had been in weeks. Well, they were clear, up to the point he beat himself up.

"Ami, there's no more need for introductions." Ami started, her eyes now glazed in fear. He continued. "I already know who you all are. Right now, I wouldn't doubt I know more than you do, and that isn't much. Would you translate to Serena please?"

Ami dutifully did so, and soon, all the Scouts were either looking upon him in apprehension, fear, or distrust.

"Can we go somewhere more private than this? Besides, I sure could stand to clean up a bit, especially after that little fight." Tank suggested.

"Ahh…sure. We can go to my house." Ami replied, and then translated. The others agreed, and they all quickly left the lighted park.

**_To be continued…._**

Here's that promised real short Glossary of Terms:   
  
BDUs, or Battle Dress Uniforms, are the standard uniform for soldiers in the US Army,   
  
LBE, or Load Bearing Equipment harness, which is itself fitted out with a usual assortment of soldier stuff, such as ammo pouches, canteens, flashlight, and a field dressing, or giant bandage.  
  
0155 hours equals 1:55 am. This is standard Greenwich, or 24 hour time.   
  
All tank crewmen in the US Army proudly refer to themselves as tankers, continuing a tradition that began in World War II. Scorned by foot soldiers and paratroopers, hated by Rangers, looked upon with envy and awe by other troops, and always belittled and verbally abused by their mechanics, tankers were in a field all to their own. When the shit hits the fan a tanker becomes the foot soldiers, paratroopers, and yes, even the Rangers best friend. Whatever ground the tank is sitting on, is the ground that the tank owns. They are the big dogs of the Army (although you won't hear Rangers or many other different soldiers agree to that).  
  
Another tradition that has been in place since World War I is naming your tank. It's your home and your ride, and much as the cavalry did, tankers would name their rides. It's a tradition that's still in place, more or less today in the US Army.  
  
Driver and Loader are also referred to by the first letter of their job by the Army's phoentic alphabet. So a Driver would be called the Delta element, and a Loader would be called the Lima element.  
  
Mikes is just another way of using the phoentic alphabet to say minutes. Less letters to have to deal with when talking.  
  
The driver's hole is the little area in the front of the tank where the driver sat and...well...drove the tank. It is reclined, making it a perfect place to sleep, if you didn't mind being bent over for awhile the next day.  
  
Being a soldier is one of the only professions in the world that allows a person to not only be an optimist, but also a pessimist in the same vein.   
  
Sitrep is short for Situation Report.  
  
MRE stands for Meal-Ready-to-Eat...or Man's-Rejected-Experiments..take your pick. ^_^

  



	2. Chapter 1: What the frick is going on?

_**Author's Note:** Ok, just so you know, I'm probably going to mix and match the Scouts American given names with their Japanese names. Most likely use their American first names, and their Japanese last names (seeing as that seems to be the case anyways). So if there is a problem with that, hey, I'm going off of what I have, and what I don't have, is an extensive knowledge of the Japanese language. Now, if I chew them up horribly, feel free to shoot me…an email that is._

Enjoy!

**¤§¤**

RBL_M1A2Tanker*

**_A Soldier in Tokyo_**

**_Chapter 1: What the F…rick…is going on?_**

"Sailor Moon…what are we going to do with this guy?" Sailor Mercury asked as the Scouts headed towards Mercury's home. They were walking a ways ahead of Tank, mostly to discuss their predicament, but partly because…well, he reeked. 

Tank smirked, "Yea, I'd stay a bit clear of me too ladies." He walked quietly, always looking about. The several weeks of living on his own in a strange, and possibly hostile land tends to make one a bit paranoid. "Not that trouble needs help finding me. Hell, I seem to go get it." He mused, smiling wryly. "Question is…how the fu…er…hell did I get here? This is supposed to be a cartoon, not some real life place. This shi…grr…stuff isn't supposed to exist!" He berated himself for swearing, even if it was silent. He'd been doing that a bit much of late, and needed to correct it, at least while in the presence of civilians. He looked at the girls' outlines ahead, watching as they conversed amongst each other.

_"You know…for being supposed cartoons, they don't look half bad from this angle."_ He appraised approvingly. _"Oh knock it off. They're far too young anyways for you."_ That little incessant voice said from the back of his head. _"So? Nothing wrong in looking is there? Besides, I know where my priorities are."_ He reasoned with said voice.

"I don't know Raye. Amy says he knows all about us, maybe he wants something?" Moon answered Mars.

"Like what? A bath maybe?" Mars held her nose for a moment, waving a hand before her face. The others giggled…well, all except for Mercury. She was the only one who knew how to speak English, and had the presence of mind to remember what he had done for them.

"Stop that Raye. He did help us out after all." Amy chided, stopping their giggling. 

"Yea, kinda dumb if you ask me. Yea, sure, he's a soldier and all, but if he knows what he said he knows, then why would he attack something he knew he couldn't beat?" Sailor Jupiter responded. The others thought about it for a moment, realizing it made sense. Moon spoke up first.

"We'll have to be cautious with him then, and find out if he's with The Enemy or not." The others nodded. Moon continued, "In the meantime, what do you guys think of him?" 

They thought for a moment. 

"I don't know…I really can't tell what to make of him." The others nodded their ascent as they turned a corner into a dark alley. Mercury stepped back out and held up a hand, motioning Tank to stop. Instead he became concerned and closed the distance between them.

In a whisper he asked, "What's up? Trouble?" Amy blinked, still not sure what to make of the soldier, before she answered.

"No, no trouble Sergeant. We just wanted you to stand out here for a second. Won't take long." Tank cocked an eyebrow, then a thought. 

"You're going to return to your normal selves I take it?" 

Amy started, surprised yet again, before stammering, "Y-yes." 

Tank nodded, and then took a position beside a drink dispenser. Amy found it difficult to see him, darkly dressed as he was. _"Sheesh, what's with this kid?"_ He watched as she tried to see him better, but only saw a rough outline in the darkness. 

Finally, he called out, "Look, if you don't mind, I'd really like to get inside a building and out of sight. Hurry up, please." He added that almost as an afterthought. Startled, she quickly slipped back into the alley. Tank shook his head, thinking, _"Kids."_

Within moments, several normal looking young women stepped out of the alley, and began searching for the soldier. Amy joined them last, and called softly, "Ok, we're ready. Let's go."

"Good." He stepped over to them, startling a couple of the girls. "What?" He asked, puzzled. "You telling me you've never had someone do that to you before?" A couple shook their heads after Amy translated. Tank sighed, muttering an apology. The two he startled smiled slightly, and nodded their heads, then began walking. 

After about ten minutes of walking, they finally came to Amy Mizuno's home. They went in through the front door, slipped off their shoes, and proceeded to head upstairs when they noticed that they weren't being followed. Tank stood outside the door…looking slightly concerned. Amy walked up to him and asked, "What's wrong Sergeant?" 

He wrung his mouth around a bit, and then finally ground out, "Well…see…there's a little problem. You know how you take off your footwear when you enter the house here?"

She nodded, puzzled. "Of course…it's only proper after all." 

"Oh I don't have a problem with that at all. It's just that, I'm sure you've noticed that I'm not the cleanest guy around. This also extends to my feet…" He pointed at his boots, which were covered in dust as the proverbial light bulb clicked on. "I really don't want to get my funky feet on your floors. Maybe you have some plastic bags or something?" A couple of garbage bags were quickly located. 

After wrapping his boots with the bags, he followed the Scouts upstairs to Amy's room. Her folks weren't around at the time, so it was a good time for them to converse without any possible chance of him being seen, and any troublesome questions asked.

The moment he stepped into the room, he noticed an odd thing. A couple of cats gazed upon him with far too intelligent eyes. One was black, the other white, with shiny moon crescents implanted on their foreheads. He also noticed that everyone was as far away from him as could possibly be. He shrugged inwardly, as he slipped his K-pod off, and then his LBE. 

Serena gazed at the soldier as he took off some of his equipment. Without the helmet more of his facial features could be seen although the face paint hid quite a bit, even in the brightly lit room. She noticed that he had short, bright orange hair, and his face looked bristly. He looked up at them, with guarded, yet slightly teasing eyes, as he asked Amy something. 

"What did he say?" Lita asked. 

"Ahh…he wanted to know if he could use our bathroom. He said he hasn't had a shower in several weeks…and that he noticed that we couldn't stand him." A couple of the girls became somewhat ashamed of their actions, especially Serena. He said something again in that light bass voice of his. The girls turned to Amy. 

"He said don't worry, he'd have done the same thing." They felt slightly better, but only a little. 

Tank left his helmet and harness behind in the room while he followed Amy. _ "Blast these bags! I'll be glad to get out of these boots for awhile, just to feel carpet again."_ He nearly tripped on his baggy feet a couple times before he finally made it to the bathroom. It wasn't quite what he was used to. It was split into two areas, an actual washroom, with sink and bath area, and what looked like a laundry room.

"What? No shower?" He looked about, but couldn't quite find one in the room.

"Yes there is one. It's above your head." He turned his painted face up and, sure enough, there it was. The paint hid his embarrassment thankfully. 

"Oh yea…there it is. Ok…so which handle is which, and where's the soap and clothing detergent?" She blinked at the latter, but pointed out where it was, where the other cleaning supplies where, and pointed out which knob turned on the heat and which the cold. She turned away, yet before leaving, she looked back, just as he fooled with the knobs, blasting himself in the face. Sputtering and flailing, he quickly shut the water back off. "Well that was fucking stupid of me…" he muttered, not realizing that she could hear him. She blushed slightly, and then more fearsomely when he unbuttoned and slipped his top off. _"Ahh…I better get back to the others now…"_ She slid the door shut behind her.

"Hmm?" He looked in the direction of the sound, and caught just a slight glimpse of skirt as Amy shut the door. _"Oops…beat she heard me too. Man…need to work on my language."_ He shrugged out of the rest of his clothing, and shoved everything into the washer. Within moments it was whirring contentedly, and not long after he was living in heaven as the shower did it's work. 

"Hell yea…this is more like it!" 

It was going to be a long time before he left…

---------------------------------------------------------

"I don't trust him. He hasn't told us anything. It's just too secretive for me." Lita scowled.

"Secretive? He told us nothing because we couldn't even stand to be around him." Mina pointed out.

Lita simply scowled again, but said nothing. "This language barrier does make this a bit difficult though." Amy mentioned, pondering. A seed of an idea had been planted, but she couldn't quite figure out what to make of it just yet.

The cats had been sitting on Amy's bed, also pondering. "Luna, what do you make of him." Artemis, the white colored cat asked his counterpart.

Luna shook her moon-studded head before replying, "I'm really not sure. From what the Scouts told us he was quite brave to attack a monster of greater power than himself. If this is a plot by The Enemy, then they are hiding it really well." Artemis nodded his agreement.

The others had listened to the comments, and most agreed. "We need to find out more about him. Where did he come from? What's his real name? Why is he here?" Mina was interrupted, "Don't you mean, how old is he, what does he really look like, and is he available?" Serena coyly tossed in. Mina scowled, face flushed. 

"No…that's not what I meant at all. Although…" She suddenly became thoughtful, "…it wouldn't be a bad thing to know either." The others groaned, shook their heads, or showed other signs of exasperation. 

Luna jumped in, "Mina is right though. We need to know all the things she mentioned, and more."

"Such as?" Lita asked.

"Such as how much does he really know? What plans does he have for us? Is be blackmailing us, setting us up, or joining us?" Artemis finished.

Serena replayed the scene in her head. _"He attacked the youma without any fear. He seemed confident about what he was doing, even when the fight turned against him. Did he really know what he was up against?"_ Her mind was blank as to an answer to the last.

The others had also begun replaying the scene in their minds eyes, using their own perspectives to determine something from the unknown soldier.

_"His attack was sudden, quickly executed. I almost didn't see it when he did it."_ Raye analyzed his fight using her knowledge of hand-to-hand combat. _ "Yet when he lost his gun, he started to use his helmet. Very unusual."_ She giggled a little though at the image of his painted face as he, almost cheerfully, pounded on the creatures' head. 

Lita spoke aloud first. "He seems strong. He nearly beat the youma by himself. If this is a plot, he wasn't doing a good job of hiding it. He almost seemed to…enjoy the fight." 

"Yes, I noticed that too." Raye interjected. A couple of the others nodded, although Amy seemed subdued. Serena turned her questioning gaze upon her. 

"Amy, you were the only one who understood what he was saying. Did it seem like he was enjoying himself?" Amy flushed as the memory of what all was said returned.

"Well…not at first. He was very…ah…verbose in some of the words he used. Once he got the youma down though, he did seem to enjoy what he was doing. Like as if he felt he was winning." 

"Verbose? What do you mean?" Luna asked.

Amy bit her lip, as the memory hit her again. Tank sitting on the youma's belly, pounding away on its' head, spouting something each time he brought it back up. _"Bitch…Die…Who's your daddy…No soup for you!"_ She suppressed a giggle, then pondered, "Should I tell them everything I heard or not?" 

Serena shoved her face into Amy's, slyly asking, "Come on Amy…what did he say?" 

Amy took a deep breath, and began to recite everything she heard…without any editing.

---------------------------------

"Ahh lord…that was great!" Tank toweled himself off after having a second shower. Steam filled the foyer from the high heat he had used, with thick beads of condensation dripping down from the walls and ceiling. Towel around his waist, he stepped over to the washer and dryer, and noticed that the washer was finished. Nodding his approval he quickly shoved the wet contents into the dryer and started it. He stepped over to the sink, opened the mirrored cabinet, and gazed inside. 

"Hmm…well, it's not much, but this'll work just fine." He pulled out a small razor, although he couldn't find much else. Shrugging inwardly about the lack of any shaving cream, he closed the cabinet back up, ready to shave. He hung his head though from his thoughtlessness. "Twit…how do you expect to shave if you can't see yourself?" He berated himself aloud before wiping the mirror off of condensation. 

"Whoa…damn I'm looking scraggly!" He gazed at himself in surprise, forgetting his promise to cut back on his swearing. Sighing, then grimacing, he slowly worked the razor down his face as he began to dry-shave. "Errrgh! Man…this is going to burn for a day or so." 

Continuing his struggles with the razor, he began to think about how things had turned even more askew than he would have ever dreamed.

_"Alright…sitrep is still looking bad. Not only am I not in the right country, I'm not even in the right world. Obviously I'm not dreaming…this razor would have woken me up for certain."_ He grimaced as a particularly tough spot of beard resisted. _"I only watched this show off an on when I had nothing better else to watch. So do I tell them what I do know?" _

He pondered for a moment before answering his own question. _ "No. If this world is actually real, then it would be wrong of me to change any possible events that might be forthcoming. Doubt they'll like it, but tough. So what do I tell them?"_ He had no idea on this.

He chuckled aloud, "Heh, not every day I have to think of shit…er...stuff like this." He washed off the razor, and then cleaned up his mess in the sink before leaning up against the dryer, waiting for his stuff to finish. 

"Hmm…" He mused as he looked himself over, "I lost some weight. Sweeeet. Top will be pleased with me, after he chews my ass a bit." He said cheerfully, imaging his First Sergeant actually being happy…well, for at least a moment. 

----------------------------------------------

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"And that's everything that he said." Amy finished telling them everything she had heard. _"They did ask."_ She comforted herself with that, although the strange looks she was getting, or the silence they emitted wasn't very comforting, to say in the least.

Serena was the first to utter something. "Um…."

Never was a greater word spoken.

"He's…um…verbose indeed Amy." Luna weakly offered. 

"What's taking him so long? He should be done by now!" Lita exclaimed irritably, breaking the mood.

Amy stood up. "I'll go check on him." She said quickly as she headed for the door. The others merely nodded their assent, although Lita's eye twitched slightly.

Serena noticed this. "Hey Lita…what's up?"

"What?" She snapped slightly. Serena slightly rocked back from the comment.

"That! What's up? You're awfully on edge tonight." Lita sighed, eyes closing for a brief moment while she gathered her thoughts.

"I don't know." She finally said. "I guess I just don't like surprises, or unknowns, and this guy is both so far." The others slowly nodded their agreement at this as they replayed the events of the evening yet again.

Mina quickly quipped, "Well, we'll find out everything soon enough I'm sure."

******************************

"Sergeant? Sergeant are you alright?" Amy called through the paper-thin door.

Within the room Tank groggily opened his eyes. "Oh man. Guess I was a bit tired. Didn't even know I dozed off." A soft voice called again from the other side of the door, and then he heard it start to slide. Still groggy, he turned his head in the direction of the sound, still leaning against the dryer with his arms across his chest, and nothing more than a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Huh?" He gazed at a highly astonished and flushed young face dumbly before everything snapped into focus, almost with a physical snap. Automatically his modesty defensive systems activated, long before he realized they had, lashing out in a fierce full, almost terrorized cry.

"Ho shit! What the hell ya doing! Jesus crime-a-knitely I've only got a towel on here! You crazy!" While he was busy saying all that, his body was busy trying to hide himself, which it learned fast that, quite simply, you couldn't climb a tile wall. It just doesn't happen. Points for the attempt though.

Eyes wide as saucers one second, then covered while she turned away, she managed to choke out, "We were just wondering what was taking so long…I'll wait outside!" She nearly slammed the door back into place behind her. 

For a few minutes both parties panted heavily from the adrenaline rush to their systems.

Taking several more deep breaths, Tank managed to spit out, "Damn…that wasn't pretty. Whew…never had that happen before. Not sure I want to have it happen again either." He felt a familiar stirring down below, and he angrily hissed, "At ease you! This is no time for that." He shook his head, and glanced at the dryer.

_"Thank god it's done."_ He called out to the door, "I'll be out in just a couple minutes. Had to wait till my clothes were clean and dry."

"O…ok then." Amy shakily managed to reply, getting her own systems back under control. "I-I'll wait for you in the room…with the others I mean. I mean we'll all be waiting there for you…Ooooh!" She squinted in embarrassment as she dashed down the hallway, barely avoiding hitting a table.

The other Scouts and the cats looked up in surprise as Amy nearly crashed into the door, then slide it shut with a slam, panting against the door.

"What? What happened?" Artemis asked.

Mina raised an eyebrow. Serena simply blinked at the display. 

Raye cocked her head slightly as she asked, "What's the deal with you?"

Amy only managed to shake her head in response. Swallowing, she managed, "N-n-n-never mind. It's nothing."

Lita scratched her head as they all glanced at one another before shrugging.

**********************************

Several minutes later…

Tank walked into the room, much calmer and considerably more awake than he had been earlier, and twenty times as refreshed. His boots were off still, and he left them in the bags he wore them in with. 

"Just what the doctor ordered. Now, where were we?" He said cheerfully, placing his boots and the rest of his gear on the small balcony. All except for Amy were gazing on in wonder.

"Wow…he looks so much different without the stuff on his face." Serena thought. The others thoughts were much along those lines as well. His face was pale, with freckles dotting his cheeks, although they didn't detract from his looks. His eyebrows, in sharp contrast to his light orange hair, were a bright blond. His eyes though, were an aqua color, much like the color of water in a swimming pool.

He gazed back in return. _"Hmmm…Amy is still a little bit flustered. Guess she didn't tell them. Oh well, if she didn't say a thing, neither will I." _ He noticed the cats for the first time. "Hey. Wassup cats?" He bent down at the knees and patted them with his palms. Luna and Artemis shot a quick glance at each other, and then padded over to him, not sensing any bad intentions. Smirking, he reached out and placed his hands, palms down in from of their faces. 

_"I'm impressed."_ Luna thought appreciatively. _"He knows how to greet an animal correctly." _ Almost without thinking, she sniffed his hand, and then slid her head underneath it, which he gently scratched behind her ears. She purred. 

Artemis had followed suit almost at the same time as her.

The girls were surprised. "Hey guys…have you ever seen them do that before?" All shook in the negative.

Tank spoke up before anything else could be said. "So, you're Luna and Artemis eh?" He now scratched their chins, which they enjoyed. 

"Oooh…a little to the left would you?" Luna said in English, without even knowing she did it.

"Sure thing." He adjusted.

"Oh yes. That's the spot." Luna's feline grin grew tremendously.

Amy was flabbergasted. "Hey…how did you know…" He cut her off.

"That they knew English? I didn't actually. Call it a hunch." He finally sat down, crossing his legs underneath him. Disappointed, Artemis and Luna slowly moved away to sit next to Serena.

"Before we get down to it, I'd like to ask ya something Amy." She blinked.

"I know you have that…whatizit…Mercury computer which can tell ya just about everything. Could you look and see if maybe there's some kinda translator chip or something? I can't live in this country without an interpreter, and I don't intend to be here long enough to learn the language on my own."

She thought for a second about activating the visor, when she noticed him scowl slightly. "What is it?"

"Look, I told you I know about it. I even named it for ya. So what's with the delay?" She was about to retort when she realized that, there really wasn't a good reason for delaying. She reached up and activated the visor. A thin, narrow blue band shimmered across her eyes, and a small keyboard appeared before her. The seed of an idea that was planted earlier came into full bloom with his query, and in moments, she found just what he was looking for.

"Yes, there is something. It's a translator earpiece and vocal chip. Just a moment." She dabbed the keys some more as the others watched, although it was obvious they didn't know what it was she was doing. A small blue light shimmered a moment on the floor before her, and when it passed a small pill shaped chip and two micro earpieces had appeared. She picked them up and held them out to him.

He took both, first looking at them, then her dubiously. "This is it?" He said, right eyebrow cocked.

"Yes." She replied, dabbing the keyboard for instructions. "All you have to do is insert the earpieces into your ears, and swallow the vocal chip, and you'll be able to hear and talk in Japanese. There was something in here about other language, and an add-on that allows you to read as well, but I can't find it now."

He looked at the small items in his hand again, and then shrugged. "Well, let's hope it works then." He took the pill/chip and tossed it down. He then slipped the earpieces in, and then asked, "So how do I make sure I'm talking English or Japanese with these things on?" 

"Ahhh…." She looked some more. "Just say 'translator on' or 'off.' That's it."

"Hmm…sure could have used this on some of the guys back home." He mused, before commanding, "Translator on." Nothing happened.

He looked back at Amy "So, does it work?" He asked in perfect Japanese

She smiled, while everyone else, minus the cats, started. "Yes, it works just as it should." She replied in Japanese. He smiled back. "Good."

He now turned his gaze to the others. "Well, I'm sure you all have lots of things to ask me. Past time that we got started isn't it?" Now past their shock, they nodded.

Lita took a step forward. He turned to face her, automatically tense. _"Hmm, a toughie. Guess she is the muscle of the group, she acts like a brawler."_ She interrupted his thoughts.

"I'll go first." She speared him with her eyes. "Who are you? Who do you work for? What's your game?"

He leaned back slightly, and then chuckled. "Heh, blunt and to the point I see." He looked up at her. "Can't say as I'd blame you either. If I was in your position, I'm sure I'd do the same. I already told you what'd work to get my attention. I won't tell you my actual name, it's not really important here. As for whom I work for, and what's my 'game' as you so put it, that's easy. I work for the US Army, plain and simple. My job is as a tank crewman. Put me in a M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank, and I'll get it where you need it to go, and do some major damage. My goal is to get back where I belong. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Since when did the US Army know anything about us though?" He turned in the direction of the new voice.

_"Man…they sound much cuter now that I understand them. Hey, quit that! Back to business. That was Raye."_ He gazed at the Scout of Fire. "To be honest, I'd say they don't know a thing."

"Then how do you know us? Are you with The Enemy?" New voice, a higher pitched one than either Lita's or Raye's. He looked at Mina. 

"You wouldn't believe me if I told ya, and no, I'm not." 

"Prove it." Lita again. Serena, Amy, and the cats sat back and watched for the time being.

"Prove it? What, like me going up against that crazy chick wasn't proof enough? Had I known what I know now, I probably wouldn't have jumped in." This stunned them all.

"Why is that?" Luna asked.

"Because I don't want to get dragged into something I can't deal with, and already I've been drug into a situation I'm not sure I can deal with." He said crossly.

"What do you mean?" Serena this time.

He turned his quiet gaze on her, and she shuddered, as the eyes seemed to bore into her soul. "It's simple Meatball head. Yea, I know your nickname too. It's simple enough that I'm surprised you all haven't figured it out already." Serena's face flushed in anger at the familiar nickname being used by a complete stranger. Everyone else seemed to get angry too at the implication.

"What are you saying? Are you saying we're being duped?" Lita said in an angry tone.

His eyes finally flashed annoyance. _ "God, why haven't they figured it out yet?" _ "I'm not saying that at all. I know what you're capable of, now, and what you will be. All I'm saying is that you should have realized that…" 

"…he's not from a posting by the US Army here in Japan." Amy finished. The others gazed at her. She gazed back. "He's right. It is simple. That patch on his shoulder, the fact that he doesn't know any Japanese, that he's nowhere near the few US Army bases that are in Japan. He was brought here without his knowledge from somewhere in the US."

"Exactly." Tank affirmed, cheered. _"Well, at least as exact as they're going to get at this time." _

This seemed to mollify Lita a bit. 

"Ok, so what do you really know about us?" Raye asked.

Tank thought about this for a moment. "You know…I've thought about this for awhile. I've decided that I'm not going to tell you that just now." This set the others off.

"Why not?"

"What'cha hiding?"

"What's wrong with telling us?"

"I knew he was up to no good." The last angered him, and he decided to let Lita, the one who uttered it, know.

Jumping up, he whirled on Lita and closed to within inches of her face before she had time to react. Speaking very softly, his tone was neutral, but both understood what he implied as he said, "You can stop that right there. I don't have to tell you anything. I'm quickly getting tired of being assumed to be with your enemy. My reasons for telling or not are my own. I don't report to you, I don't follow you; I don't do anything that has to deal with you. I did you a favor tonight; the least you can do is show a little common courtesy. I strongly suggest you change your tune kid, right here, right now." Lita blinked rapidly as Tank gazed down upon her hard. _"Thank you Drill Sergeant Gilbert."_ He sent a brief thanks to his short in stature Drill Sergeant from BASIC. 

_"Wha…where did this guy come from?"_ Lita thought to herself as the soldier bore down on her. _"One second he was cool as an ice cube on the floor, next he's in my face."_ She had stared down demons and other worldly monsters, yet this guy was putting the fear of god in her unlike anything else in her young life ever had. She almost buckled under too, if not for that core of steel within her that helped her in a fight. She managed to steel her own gaze, but couldn't quite bring herself to have the righteous indignation that would have come to her if he were in the wrong. _"But…he wasn't. I was bearing down on him kinda hard."_ She realized.

Finally, she swallowed her pride a bit and chewed out, while still gazing into his eyes, "Ok, I admit I was prodding you a bit too much. It was too strange tonight for me not to. I'm sorry." 

His gaze shifted slightly from being hard and cold, to being understanding. The coldness was still there, but it had warmed considerably. "Understood. Just remember what assume means." He said.

Puzzled, she asked, "What does it mean?"

Smirking, he replied, "Assume, when broken up, means 'ASS-U-ME.' You've just made an ass out of both you and me. Remember that, it'll come in handy down the line." He backed away, sliding towards the balcony. His words rang in her head for a bit, and how true they were.

He continued, "Look, I don't have any 'sinister' plans in mind. I'm not asking you for anything, and I don't want anything. If at all possible, I don't want to get involved with you gals, period. I'm in the wrong place, in more ways than one, and I don't need to be getting dragged into your conflict. I just did you a favor and played a good distraction for ya." He slipped his LBE back on, looking at them as he did so.

"Considering how poorly I did against your opponent tonight, if I was you, I sure as hell wouldn't ask a soldier with no special abilities to speak of to join up. What I did tonight was really quite stupid of me." He slipped his boots on, tightening the straps on the tanker boots.

"So why did you?" 

He looked up, confused. "I beg your pardon?"

Serena gazed at him, asking again, "Why did you do it? If you knew it was so dumb, why did you still get involved?" 

He finished with the last bootstrap, and slowly stood up. He was quiet for a few minutes. Finally, his tone introspective, he answered. "It's just the way I am I guess. I saw a bunch of strangely dressed cute girls being attacked by something, and I just couldn't stop myself if I wanted to. I felt I had to do something." His eyes again gazed into Serena's, only this time, they weren't scanning her soul. His mental shields were down, and she could visibly see it. This time, she scanned his. 

After a couple minutes, she smiled slightly, understanding him more completely than if he said a thousand words, although it was doubtful that he was even aware he had opened himself up that much.

Shrugging, he grabbed his K-pod, and placed it on his head. "I'll be on the balcony here while you talk things over. If you can't come up with a decision or something, just let me know. You'll be able to find me again easily I'm sure." He stepped all the way onto the balcony, and leaned against the railing, hands holding on for balance.

The Scouts drew away into a circle into the corner to talk, while Tank looked up at the sky and the stars. _"Hmmm…very pretty night tonight. Although this stupid overhang on Amy's ceiling blocks most of it."_ He leaned back a bit more, so he could stretch his back a bit, and see more of the sky.

In their circle…

"Can we believe him?" Mina asked. 

"I don't know, I don't sense any misdirection on his part. I get the impression that he did just what he said he did. A favor." Luna shrugged her feline shoulders.

Serena thought a moment, and then turned to Amy. "Hey Amy, while he's not looking, use your visor on him. Get everything you can, we might need to know someday." Slightly curious at the gentle command, she did it. She looked up at him with the visor on, and let it scan him several times in several ways as he leaned back a bit more to gaze at the sky.

"He looks so…innocent right now." She murmured.

Lita snorted. "Yea, well, you didn't see what I saw. It was like…he had ice water in his veins." She shuddered.

"You did antagonize him though." Artemis pointed out.

She sputtered a moment before coughing out, "So?" Pride is a tough thing to let go, and she rarely had a cause to let it go for. Except for this time.

"He's honorable guys. I can feel it in my heart and soul. If he wants to be left alone, then we'll do it." Serena finally said in one of her few moments where the leader in her could be plainly seen. "I get the feeling that we'll be seeing more of him though."

They all gazed at her questioningly. She shrugged, "I don't know why, I just do." Finally, she straightened up. "Let's tell him what we think." 

"Right." The others nodded, and then straightened as well. They all turned to face him, and faced…

An empty balcony.

"What the?" They rushed over, not finding a trace of him on the balcony. They looked over, but could only see inky darkness below them. The wind rustled the bushes and tress about them, and ruffled their hair and dresses slightly, but as for the soldier, nothing was heard.

****************************************

While the Scouts had been discussing things, Tank had continued to stare up at the sky, trying to identify major star formations (the few he knew anyways). Problem was, the overhang on the balcony kept blocking the next formation he was trying to identify, or at least part of it, so he'd lean out a bit more, all the way to the point only his toes of his boots where keeping him from slipping.

Tanker had always been known to be curious, sometimes, some folks claimed he got 'tunnel-vision' with his curiosity, and he'd forget things. 

For example…

A Kevlar helmet, by itself, weighs eleven pounds. Add the foam inserts, the web harness, the strap, the camouflage cover, and it felt like it weighed less, but it sometimes could weigh just a bit more. In any case…

Tank continued to lean back further and further, trying to find that one last formation he knew, and hoping that he wouldn't get busted by the cops for being a peeping tom or something, when a more basic law kicked in. The Law of Gravity. 

"Aw shit." He managed to mumble as his body flipped, his hands still latched to the railing. So he looked much like an old flip toy, except that there was a bar in the middle, unlike on the flip toy. His face was mashed against the bar, although nothing was broken thanks to the helmet. Stunned, he let go of the railing, and he fell a story, into the darkness. 

Or, to be more precise, into the bushes directly below the balcony.

The Scouts rushed out and looked hard for him, but, thanks to his camouflaged BDUs, he was saved from their gazes while he lay down between a couple juniper bushes, face down in the dirt. 

"Awwwww…damn…that…hurt." He muttered finally, after several long minutes of cursing himself mentally for his stupidity. "Ok…two acts of stupidity a night are no longer allowed."

Painfully, he pried himself from the bushes, just as the Scouts had left the balcony. He looked up, and, noticing that no one was there, decided, "Ah screw it. I said my piece. If they want to let me know, they'll come for me."

Brushing himself off, he removed the bags from his boots, pocketing them for later personal use, and headed back to his temporary home.

********************************************

"Any sign?" Luna asked.

The Scouts shook their heads. "Didn't see a thing. But, it's too dark to really see anything. We'll probably see more tomorrow." Raye reported. 

Luna nodded. "Yes, tomorrow would be a better time to look for him, that is, if you want to." She gazed up at Serena. 

"We'll look around here tomorrow, at least. He might have hurt himself or something." 

"Good idea. Now," Artemis yawned, "it's getting late. We should head back home now." A couple of the others yawned as well.

Mina picked up Artemis and carried him in her arms as she headed home. "Did you hear why he got involved for?" She whispered, as if she didn't want the others to hear.

The white cat looked up at her. "Well, yes I did. Why?"

"He said it was because he saw some cute girls being attacked. Maybe he's a husband from the past?" Artemis's lips twitched a bit, then he sighed. _"Should have known."_ Narrowing his eyes, he smirked, "He also said they were strangely dressed too. Or did you forget that part?" She didn't hear that though, her thoughts were a million miles away from the present as she tried to dig up memories of the past, in the hopes that maybe the solder was one of their soldiers, or even better. 

She would be trying for a long time.

*******************************************************

"Ahhh…finally. Made it back." He smiled in relief. He wasn't sure he'd find it at first, but it wasn't as far away as he thought it would be. Wearily he closed in on the wood line, when he felt a dark presence behind him. He closed his eyes, lip-synching several strong words as he slowly turned.

"So you are the interloper." A strange looking, thin man stood before him. His jaw was straight and strong, with his long orange hair tied into a ponytail. He stood taller than Tank, but wasn't as stocky. His body looked strong nonetheless. He wore white gloves and a black outfit that seemed to be tailored to fit around his torso, but flowed loosely on his arms. 

_"Shit…dammit dammit dammit! Now I really wish I didn't get involved!"_ He berated himself, while answering warily, "Yea, I guess you could say I am. Who are you?"

The figure chuckled. "Who am I? I'm surprised you don't know already. I'm Zocite. General of Queen Beryl's armies, and second only to her in power."

"Oh great, I hooked me a big one then didn't I?" His body tensed, not sure what the deal was, but was quite sure he wasn't going to like it.

"So, what'cha coming to pay little ol' me a visit for Zeke?" The taller man frowned at the nickname.

"It is Zocite. You will refer to me as such." He scowled as the camo clad man laughed at him.

"Why is it that everyone is making assumptions tonight?" His gaze hardened. "Look Zeke, Zoke, whatever you want to be called, I could give two shits. I don't work for you, so I'll call you whatever I wish. Comprende?"

The evil General smirked slightly. "Heh, feisty."

"Yea yea, get to the point. You didn't come here just to tell me who you were did you?"

"True, I didn't. I came just to see who you worked for." He closed his eyes a second as he continued. "I admit that I assumed you were working for those meddlesome Sailor Brats when you attacked my Pistola. Very nicely done I must say. Quite impressive for someone lacking any powers to speak of."

A bead of sweat dripped down Tanks face as he gazed at the creature before him. _ "Ok…ok…what's this dude do…ahhh…works for Beryl, check. Is quite strong, check. Probably could kick my ass right now…check. Guess I'll have to play this out and see what he's got up his sleeve."_

"So, I really must know, impressive one, whose side are you on?" His gaze shifted ever so slightly. Promising great things…either helpful, or painful, depending upon the answer.

"Neither Zeke. All I'll say is that I ended up here when I sure as hell didn't want to be. I'll tell you what I told the Scouts, I don't want to be involved in your conflict. You don't need me, and I sure as fuck don't need you." His words sounded tough, but with only one bullet left in his 9mm, his options were less than stellar.

Zocite thought about this for a moment. "Well, see, now I'm in a bit a bind here. See, you did attack one of my collectors."

"Had I known, I would have left it for the Scouts to deal with. I was playing that deal without the full deck being available." Tank retorted. 

"Even so, you still managed to harm it greatly." 

"I did?" Tank said, surprised.

"Very much so. Which is why I'm so impressed, I'm willing to offer you a deal."

"What kinda deal?" He asked, wary.

"Join us."

Tank dropped his head, incredulous. "What is it with you guys? You just want people to join you on the drop of a hat?"

"Well, if the opportunity presents itself, yes. Much easier on the recruiting that way."

"Heh, I know about recruiting. How do you think Uncle Sam got me in this uniform?" 

"Eh?" Zocite looked a little closer at the tanker. His eyes widened perceptively as a realization hit him.

"Ah, I see, you are a United States soldier. That explains your temperament. Japanese soldiers are very good fighters and all, but they are just a bit…lacking. Hard to explain, and I really do have other matters to attend to. What is your answer?"

"I'd like to know the full deal before I attempt to cut the deck for the shuffle." 

"Fair enough." Zocite walked forward a few steps. "You join us, you'll become quite powerful. That, added to your, shall we say, 'improvisational' skills would make you quite a deadly foe for the Brats indeed. You don't, then I'll probably have to kill you."

"Ah, and you almost had me sold too, but that last option just didn't hit me right. See, I don't respond too well to threats." Zocite hadn't noticed, but Tank had slipped forward a bit closer. Quickly he bent down and pulled the tanto knife from his boot, and the 9mm from its holster. He stuck the pistol under the General's chin, and the knifepoint at his evil heart. "As I'm sure you don't either. So I'm going to make a counter proposal." 

Calmly, Beryl's general replied, "By all means, do tell."

"How about, I don't join you, and I don't join the Scouts. I get my tail back to where it belongs, and I'm out of your hair to do with as you please to the Scouts. Or vice versa, whichever comes first." He jabbed the knife gently into his chest a bit. "How's that dig ya?"

Zocite chuckled at this. "Quite the cool customer you are. You have to know that you're no match for me, yet you put me in quite the precarious position."

"Oh don't get me wrong, I know that you guys are impervious to bullets. Which is why I've A; got the barrel under your chin, and B; I have this knife pointed at your heart. If I have to go, I want the satisfaction of at least knocking you around a bit, or pissing you off greatly. Either way, it'll probably get the Scouts attention. Now that's something we're trying to avoid, isn't it?"

Zocite smiled, "Touché. Nicely done. I see you are quite skilled indeed." Tank interrupted him.

"And stop kissing my ass. I hate brown-nosers; they're a waste of time. I still take the first comment as a compliment though." Tank said cheerfully.

Zocite's smile vanished. In its place was a snarl. "Very well then. Do me the satisfaction of telling me who you are, so I can put it on your tombstone if you go back on the deal."

Tank blinked, but the taller man didn't see it. "I'll give you what I gave the Scouts. Call me Sergeant, Tank, or Tanker. Any of those three will do just nicely. Oh, and if I go back on the deal, it'll be because of something your hench…critters…do to me, not the other way around. I'll keep my nose clean, if you do the same."

The evil General's mouth twitched at the mentioning of 'nose clean,' but nodded, "It's a deal then. I'll be watching you closely." A sudden black flame burst around the General, with the force of it knocking Tank several feet away.

"Ah, shit." He sat up, and didn't see the black clad man. Rubbing his rump, he sat himself back up, holstering his weapons as he did so.

_"Well now I've done it. I've just started a new occupation, Equal Opportunity Pisser-offer. I better get something more decent, this one's benefits seem to suck so far."_ Tank walked further up into the park, certain that he was being watched from somewhere, and he didn't want anyone knowing where he was living. 

*************************************************

From a roof across the way…

"So, he didn't join us?"

"No, he didn't." Zocite replied.

"Strange, most Americans I hear jump at the chance for power, or money. This one seems different, doesn't he?" Jadeite asked, without really expecting an answer.

"I'm not sure what to make of him. We should keep an eye on him though; I feel he could be trouble down the road for us. And no attacks are to be made on him." Zocite ordered.

Jadeite laughed in response, "Ha ha ha ha, and what if Queen Beryl orders it? Then we won't have a choice will we?" Zocite twitched his lips a bit at this, for it was true.

"I'm sure she's well aware of the situation here. I suppose she'll approve for now. In the meantime, let's get back. We've got more energy to collect." Black flames surrounded them both, and they left the rooftop.

************************************************

"Huh? What's that?" He looked up at a distant rooftop, only to catch the briefest of black flashes against the moon. 

"So they were watching. Well, I'm glad they left, I'm tired." He crept into the wood line, and made his way back to the gnarled old tree where he kept his rifle and other gear. He undid the tarp and set up his little campsite for the night, and probably most of the next day as well. After he got a good little fire going, he took off his LBE, K-pod and holster, and proceeded to clean his pistol while he mulled over his situation.

_"Well, sitrep is even worse than I thought. Scouts might be out for my blood, although that's unlikely. Beryl, or at least Zeke will be on me like a hawk, so I've successfully screwed the pooch here. Zeke did make a good point though…"_ He started to say his thoughts out loud. 

"I really don't have any special skills to speak of. Give me a tank, and a tight crew and I'm set. Doubt I'll find that here. So…I'm going to need some training. What kind though?" He thought for a bit and he took a brush to the barrel. "Well, martial arts would probably be the best way to go, at least as a backup to what I have. I'll also need a job, so I can get some ammo and a change of clothes. But whom do I go to for training? Damn, I wish Barsoum was here." Barsoum was his roommate, a black-belt master in the art of Sho Ren Ryu, and had taught him some pointers. 

He added some lubricant as he reassembled his weapon. He had just slid the locking switch back into place when two things happened. One, he got his answer, and two, an accented voice suddenly cried out in English, "What the fuck…who the hell hit me?"

"Hmm…that almost sounds like Barsoum. Nah, he's not here." But, just to satisfy his curiosity, he turned in the direction of the sound. What he saw was more shocking than seeing cartoon characters in the flesh.

Before him a semi transparent figure could be seen thrashing about with a bush. He glowed slightly bluish, and he was dressed in the same uniform as Tank, sans the helmet and other gear. Upon his head was a camouflaged cap with a rank pin in the middle. Upon his large nose sat a pair of glasses, behind which angry eyes darted about, looking for the thing that hit him. Upon his chest was a name, which said in big, black, bold letters, "BARSOUM."

"Barsoum? Is that you?" Tank stood up, completely at a loss. "No way, I just wished for you to be here, it can't be that damn easy." He rubbed his eyes with the back on his hands, and when he opened, Barsoum now stood before him, awe struck.

"Whoa…am I dead or something?" The Californian native of Egyptian descent reached out to touch Tank. But before he touched, he stopped himself, and slapped his face, hard. 

"This is impossible, I can't be seeing you. I'd have to be dead and in heaven or something, and this doesn't look like Heaven." 

"Heh, yea, I'd say you're right man." Tank replied, still rooted in place.

"Ok, now I know you're not him, cause if you were Tank you'd be speaking English. Great, I'm in Hell." 

"Oh shit! Translator off!" Tank exclaimed, forgetting he left the translator on. Quickly, he said, "Barsoum, it's me man! I'm not dead, but you sure don't look like you're alive."

"Tank? How is it possible? You're reported to be dead man!" Barsoum said incredulously.

"Do I look dead to you dick?" Tank snapped.

His roommate burst up laughing. His laugh was an interesting one, it sounded like a slow motion rivet gun going off, only at a higher pitch. "Yea, you're Tank alright. Where the fuck you been man?" He reached out a hand to clasp Tank's. Tank reached out to clasp it back with joy, only to pass right on through, and onto his face.

Unable to help himself, Barsoum burst out laughing again, harder than ever. "Ok bitch, that shit isn't funny. You're pulling some kinda Obi-Wan Kenobi shit on me. All I see is an image of you, I can't touch you man." Tank picked himself back up, and looked at Barsoum, who shook his head.

"Dunno, looked funny to me man." He broke out laughing again.

Growling slightly, Tank controlled his anger and asked, "Ok wise-ass. What's this about me being reported dead?" 

Suddenly dead sober, Barsoum slipped his cover off his head, and sat on the ground. Tank followed. 

"Well, you know that Field Exercise we were doing?"

"Yea…"

"Well, the story goes that after you and Lott were relieved, he went into the drivers' hole to sleep, and you went to piss or something." 

"Yea, that's following so far." Tank expected the story to change quite a bit now, and he wasn't disappointed.

"Well, you went to do your stuff, and that's where things get a bit strange."

"Strange?" Tank scratched his head.

"Yea, that's what I said isn't it? Evens said he saw you head into the tree line with your M4 drawn, like you were chasing something. About ten minutes later, he said he heard you yell out 'Terrorists! There's a bomb!' or some such shit. Some gunshots where heard, and then an explosion. When they went to check it out, they found several bodies, but none match conclusively. There was one on top of what looked like a detonator, with an M4 around him."

Tank was shocked into silence as his roommate told him all.

"They said that you managed to get the remote, and blow the bomb up, takin you and them all with it. It was some kinda old boys militia thing, and they wanted to make a statement by blowing up some tanks or something. It's been a few weeks ago now. You got the Silver Star for it; you saved at least a tank, maybe two and their crews. Talk of giving you the Congressional man. Or so they say." Barsoum looked at his friend with searching eyes.

His mouth dry, and his eyes slowly starting to water, Tank could only reply, "I…no. That can't be true. It's obviously not true, I'm here and alive." He told everything that happened to him for the past few weeks, starting from when he entered the tree line.

"And just about ten minutes ago, I had to deal with so dick who wanted me to join or 'die.'" Barsoum interrupted him.

"Ok, this isn't the cartoon show with the weird names in it, like Tootie-Fruitie, or Peperoni and Fettecini, or Garlic Jr, or whatever it is, is it?"

"No man, it isn't DragonBall Z, although I'd almost wish it was. I at least know that shit. This crap escapes me, I only watched it out of sheer boredom." 

"Ok, just had to get that straight." Barsoliny shook his head, saying, "Man, I'd say you were crazy if I wasn't here talking to you."

"Yea, I'd feel the same way man. So what's with the Obi-Wan look? Light glowing blue just isn't your color dude." He motioned to Barsoum's form.

He shrugged in reply. "Beats me man. I was just getting ready to head for Staff Duty when I heard this voice behind me say, 'You've been called for.' Scared the shit outta me. Next thing I know, I'm dancing in the bushes." He shrugged again.

"All I know is I was figuring out my options, which aren't much. Figured I should get some martial arts training, and some other little details. All I said was, 'I wish Barsoum was here,' and the next thing I know you…"

Both finished, "…were dancing in the bushes." 

"Man, you did this to me. Whatever did I do to you?" Barsoum chided him, mostly kidding.

"Hey, if I thought it was that easy, I'd wish for a…" he took the first thing that came to mind, "…blue-bladed lightsaber, or even better I'd wish my sorry ass back." Just out of curiosity, both men held out their hand, just in case a lightsaber did fall from the trees. Nothing landed in their hands, although a walnut did land on Tank's uncovered head.

"Ow! You little bitch!" He could hear the squirrel laughing at him. He grabbed the nut and threw it back, and was satisfied to hear the chirps get much louder when he came close to hitting.

"There, take that! That's one more person to piss off!" He shook his fist at the woodland creature that had scampered off, although it's eyes did roll about a bit…screwy like. Barsoum was rolling on the ground in his laughter.

Tank couldn't help himself, and he laughed a bit himself, but his heart was heavy.

_"Damn…I wonder how Mom took it…or my brothers."_ He turned to Barsoum, and asked soberly, "Hey man, any mention of how my family took it?" This stopped Barsoum's laugh fest.

He sat back up, and looked up into Tank's eyes, and saw nothing but sadness there.

"Dude, I won't lie to you, they took it rough. They had a service for you at Arlington. It was awesome man. Most of the company, and a lot of the battalion went there. Lots of guys wearing Cav Stetsons. I think the most impressive though was your bro. Shit man, you never told me he was so damn big! And he looked sharp in that black Berea." Tears came unbidden from Tank's face, but he remained (mostly) composed as images of his family passed through his mind's eye. 

"Heh, yea. I can see him there in that." He muttered. Barsoum nodded before continuing.

"They had a chopper fly over, a full band, honor guard, the works. Your Mom's a tough woman dude, she held up really well, up to the point they…" Tank waved his hand to cut him off.

"Enough man. I appreciate the info, but that's more imagery than I think I can handle right now, and I need everything I can muster." His voice was shaky, but his tone was firm.

Barsoum waited a few minutes while Tank composed himself a bit more before asking, "So what's you're plan man? What'cha need ol' Barsoliny for?"

"What I mentioned earlier. Training. But I can't spar with you, I need something physical to hit ya know." Barsoum begrudged him that with a sideways nod. 

"So, I'm going to find me a local I can train with as well. Give me as many different training and styles that there are, especially since it looks like I'll be here awhile." Tank said the last grimly. 

"Do you know any locals?" 

"I know of at least one, maybe a few more than that. They're, or should be in a district around here that's part of Tokyo, so I think I'm set. It might be a couple days or so before I'm able to approach'em. In the meantime, we've got things to do." Tank turned to Barsoum, grinning slightly.

Barsoum shuddered, "Whew…man, glad I'm a sheet now, you never did that shit with me when we sparred." 

Tank chuckled, "Heh, that's because you could kick my ass easily then. Now I don't have to worry about being hurt by you." Barsoum laughed at that.

"Yea, but that means you'll be someone else's punching bag bitch instead of mine."

Tank shrugged in response. "Well, I'm going to turn in. I have a plan, and now I have you here. Things are looking bad, but since it seems I'm stuck here, I'm going to make the most of it."

"It's also not so bad as it was before you arrived. Glad to see at least one familier face." Tank stretched, yawning as he did so. From above, a chattering could be heard. Barsoum looked up, then smirked at his friend, "Hey man, I think he's still upset at you. So where...what the fuck! That little shit just threw something at me!" Barsoum jumped up, as several other missiles came down at him, some ranging from simple nuts to pieces of bark and sticks. Barsoum shook his fist at the little creature, screaming, "You little piece of shit! You're fucking lucky I can't touch anything, or I'd beat the whole fucking shit out of you!"

"Shut up man. Someone might hear you." Tank called from his tent, trying to contain his laughter.

"I don't give a fuck. What the hell they going to see huh? And why's that little shit throwing shit at me? You started it!" Barsoum pointed a finger accusingly at Tank.

"Because he can see you, you twit. Get under cover, he'll probably leave ya alone then." Tank scooted over a bit to make room. Missiles raining down still, Barsoum slipped into the little tent alongside Tank. He chuckled, "Heh, make your buddy smile man. Gimme a little more room would ya?"

"You're a ghost now, how much room do you need!?!"

"Oh I need a lot man. I need my privacy, you know that."

"Ya want privacy, get your own tent. Or maybe I'll find ya one for ya.

"Nice, nice. So what we doing tomarrow?" The tarp/tent shook as the squirrel lobbed more things down on them both. "Ya know...if it's the last thing I do, I'm going to get that fucker."

"Forget'em man. Tomarrow, and for many days after that, we gunna be trainin. Hey, it's not like you have anything else to do now." Tank said as Barsoum looked at him with a annoyed look. "Besides, if the guy I know is here, he might be able to show you some tricks of his own."

Barsoum scoffed. "I don't need anything new. I'm perfect." He grinned broadly.

Tank rolled his eyes, "Yea, whatever there 'Obi-Wan,' I believe ya." Barsoum laughed a bit, then said in deeper voice, "Use the Force Luke..."

"Oh don't start that shit man. Not while I'm trying to sleep."

"The Force is strong with this one."

Inwardly, Tank sighed, "_Oh brother. What did I get myself into?_"

**********************************************

_**Several days later....**_

A phone rang loudly for several minutes in a home in a district of Tokyo. A slender hand picked it up, and framed her smiling face as she said, "Hello, Tendo residence."

On the other end, a low bass voice replied,_ "Hello. This is the Tendo Dojo isn't it?"_

"Why, yes it is. Are you thinking of becoming a student?"

_"In a way, yes. Does a Ranma Saotome live there by any chance?"_

"Yes he does." Kasumi answered pleasently.

_"Is he there now?_

"I'm sorry, no. He's gone out for a bit to train. If you're looking for him, you should be able to find him near the harbor." Kasumi answered. A thought occured to her, "If I may, who is it that's inquiring? I could leave a message."

_"That's ok Kasumi. I think I'll find him. I greatly appreciate it. You have a pleasant day."_ The line went dead as the other party hung up. Kasumi shrugged her slender shoulders as she hung up the receiver. She started to get back to her chores when she realized something.

"He called me by my name. How did he know that?" A small ball of fear formed in the pit of her stomach as she placed a hand over her mouth. "Oh my!"

**********************************************

On a plateau just outside Nerima, Ranma Saotome goes through his normal training routine. Lightning-fast punches and kicks fly as he concentrated everything on his imaginary foe before him. In the backgroun, sunlight sparkles strangely on the waters of the Jepoc Circle.

Breaking stride for a moment to catch his breath, he stretches a bit as he thinks aloud, "It's been awhile since something happened to me. Not a bad thing at all if you ask me. Still...why do I get the feeling something's about to happen?"

From behind him, a low bass voice said, "Excuse me, are you Ranma Saotome?"

Whirling in surprise, the cursed martial artist took in the person before him. He had on some khaki slacks, with a white short sleeved shirt. His hair was a light orange, with light blue eyes. His face was pale, and, like his arms, bedecked in freckles. His arms were fairly thin, yet toned. He walked forward with his hands in his pockets, smiling slightly.

Not sensing a threat, Ranma just gazed back, wary nonetheless, as he answered, "Yea, I'm Ranma Saotome."

The man stopped about five feet away from the pig-tailed fighter, looking him over. Ranma didn't like that, but allowed it nonetheless.

Looking up quickly, Tank asked with a smile, "Pleased to meet you Ranma. I have a proposition for you..."

  


To be continued….

  
  
  



	3. Chapter 2: First the Scouts Now Ranma

**_A Soldier in Tokyo._**

**_Chapter 2: First the Scouts…now Ranma.  
  
Several days ago..._**  
  


The tree tops rustled slightly in the breeze, as Tank and Barsoum trained in an clear area of the woods, not far from their campsite. The creek babbled away as leaves slowly fell to the ground, pruned by the wind. Most of the woods seemed to be made of healthy, strong and straight trees, mostly deciduous. A few pines were scattered here and there, but the largest tree was the tree Tank had found himself against. Easily fifteen feet in diameter, it was an old, gnarled tree. Its bark was thick, with deep cracks in between. Yet it's limbs were wide, and strong. He'd been thinking of making use of it, but hadn't yet gotten around to anything more than just ideas.

At the time though, they were busy training. Tank though, wasn't having an easy time of it. 

"Common man, I've told you the proper form like...a hundred times." Barsoum berated his friend, now student. "Why you so stubborn?" 

"Cause I don't feel centered, I feel like I'm off balance like this." Tank stood, or rather, squatted before his instructor, with his arms bent at the elbows. "I also feel ridiculous." 

"I don't care. You asked for me, ya got me. Now you'll have to do what I say, or you won't gain anything." Barsoum stood before Tank with his arms crossed before his chest. "Now, let's try again." 

Tank sighed, then bent down at the knees, and drew his arms up, bent at the elbows. "I still feel off balanced. I thought a good fighter has to have good balance?" 

"They do man, but this'll get you up there. Just trust me dude." Barsoum took up the same stance with practiced ease. "Now, block my punches." 

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?? I can't touch you remember?" Tank said sardonically. 

"Just go through the motions man. You may not be able to touch me, but I can still work on your reactions." 

"Alright, alright. Let's go." 

He came in with a quick jab for Tank's chest. Tank drew his arm up before his body, then swiped the jab away, then the next jab aimed for his head, then the kick aimed to his knee, then the next hit, and the next, and the next. For several hours they trained, getting his timing, accuracy and speed up as he got used to the motions. 

"Whew, ok man, that's not bad." Barsoum wiped his forehead, then removed his BDU top, setting it on the ground near the tarp, still glowing. "Ok, now we'll spar. Take up the most comfortable stance for you, and then we'll just go at it." 

"Alrighty." Tank stood straight back up and stretched a sec, then placed his feet shoulder width apart, one arm up by his head with the hand clawed, the other down low near his gut, also clawed. Barsoum looked at the stance, then said, "Never seen that one before, but it's not too bad either." 

"Thanks, just came to me one day." Barsoum took up his stance, one leg slightly forward, the other bent at the knee slightly, one arm out and low, the other near his chest. The hands were bladed, looking limp. From expereince though, Tank knew that they were anything but limp. 

Faster than Tank expected, a glowing hand flew by his face, and he belatedly swung his wrist to block the touch. He didn't feel it, but he knew that the martial artist would have gotten the touch in. He decided to surprise Barsoum, and as the trained fighter came in with a hard punch, Tank crouched and pulled a footsweep out on him. Barsoum jumped backwards slighly, the footsweep barely missing him. Tank followed up with a charging punch, but changed it as he saw the California slightly shift, possibly to sweep him. His fist cocked, still flying towards Barsoum, he lashed out with a hard kick, connecting with the Middle Eastern-American's gut. Air whooshed from Barsoum, and he became serious. Blows rained apon each other, more on Tank than Barsoum. 

Nearly two hours later they stood, bent over panting, rubbing sore muscles of bruises from their blows and blocks. "Man, don't know what it is Tank, but I have to admit, you've gotten a lot better." Barsoum said, shaking his head. 

"Thanks man. Kinda wish you had held back a bit though." Tank laughed in reply. 

"You shitting me? I just matched what you put out man." Barsoum looked at Tank intently. 

Something clicked in both their minds at that moment. They both froze in place, then gazed at each other in awe and wonder. 

"You hit me?" 

"I hit you?" 

At the same time they both cried out, "Holy shit!" 

Directly after that moment, a missile from above nailed Barsoum on the head. Rubbing it and exlaiming, "What the fuck?" He looked about for the assialant. 

From high above a chattering could be heard. From a branch the same squirrel from the night before sat, with its arms nearly set on it's haunches. It's eyes rolled about in a screwy manner, turning on their own, and in opposite directions. In the light of day, more of its features could be seen. Its belly and the underside of its tail was a gray, almost white fur, with reddish-orange fur all over the rest of its body. It chattered a bit, then tossed down another acorn, which nailed Barsoum directly on the forehead. He rolled on the ground a second, clutching his forehead. 

"Ahhhhh! That fucker hit me! Shit that hurts like a mother fucker!" He screamed, still rolling. Tank tried to keep from busting up in laughter, but failed, quite miserably. 

Barsoum looked up at him with sparks in his eyes, growling, "That's not funny man." 

After getting a grip on his laughter for a moment, Tank said, "Like hell it isn't man. Besides, you laughed at me when I fell on my ass trying to shake your hand." 

"Yea, but this is different." 

"Sure, sure. Here, lemme take a look." He bent down to look at his friends wounded part. Barsoum lifted his hand away, and a large bump could be seen, with a slight trickle of blood coming from the direct center. 

"Damn dude, he really pegged you." Tank explained the wound. Barsoum's face became like stone, hard and foreboding. 

"That's it, that little piece of shit is dead." Barsoum stood up, the bluish glow around him seeming to intensify. 

"Hey Barsoliny, before you go squirrel huntin, we need to figure out how the hell we were able to hit each other. His friend looked at him, blank for a second, then memory kicked in. "Oh yea." 

Tank sat on a stump, pondering. The squirrel forgotten for the moment, Barsoum also sat down, although he kept checking above him for his furry opponent. 

"Ok, what made it so that I was able to hit you, and you hit me back?" Tank said aloud, hand on his chin. 

"You came at me and nailed me with a hard kick is what. Hurt like a bitch, and I got a little mad." Barsoum replied. 

"Yea, I did, but how was I able to touch you? That's the question." He pondered a bit more, as did his friend. 

"Maybe it's the physics of this world." 

Barsoum stared at him blankly, "Come again?" 

"Well, let's think about this a moment. Magical attacks actually happen here. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty certain that the physics of this world are different. I'll be absolutely certain if the guy I think is here is here and can do what I know he can do." 

Frustrated, Barsoum said, "Ok, so who is this guy, and what the fuck can he do?" 

"His name is Ranma Saotome, I think a kenpo martial artist. He knows shiatsu points, hot and cold energy usage, and an energy attack." 

"Energy attack?" 

"Ki attack, that better?" 

"Oh, ok. A ki attack huh?" 

"Yup. Pretty sure it's just one. Anyways," Tank continued, "if what I remember is correct, and he's able to do this energy attack, I'll be certain that this world has different physics, or some kinda different property that allows those kinds of attacks." Tank rubbed his head as an ache slowly formed. 

Barsoum shook his head, saying, "Beats the hell out of me. But..." he paused, thinking, "...you might be right." He stood up, and walked over to a tree. Tank watched as Barsoum swung at it with a light jab, just to tap the tree...his hand passed through. He frowned, then concentrated a bit, and did another jab, this one a little harder. 

It connected. 

"OW!!! FUCK ME!" He shook his hand about in several different directions as Tank rushed over to check him out. Barsoum waved him off though, saying, "I'm good man, just wasn't really expecting to hit. You're right though." 

Tank looked at him, surprised, "I am?" He blinked. 

"Yea. Something's different here. The ki thing got me thinking. That's why I went at the tree." 

"Oh, I thought the tree did something to deserve that." His friend laughed. 

"Yea, it looked at me funny ya know." He turned back to the tree, and started to speak in an Italian accent. "You little cock-a-roach, I'll fucking rip youse insides out and fucking make some fucking paper, you bastard." 

Tank laughed, shaking his head. Barsoum turned back, a shit-eating grin on his face, and laughing his rivet-gun laugh. 

"Man, you're nuts." 

"Yea, I know." Barsoum replied cheerfully. "Hey man, I'm going to go try some things out. I'll catch you later k?" 

Tank blinked, curious. "What'cha up to?" 

Barsoum shrugged, "Eh, gunna mess around with ki is all." 

"Oh, alright." Tank nodded. "I'll see about doing something about my clothing situation." 

"Good, while you're at it, think you could hook me up with some rope and a tent?" 

"What do I look like? I don't have any fucking money!" Tank exclaimed, arms in the air. 

"Well how the fuck you going to get some clothes?" 

Tank smiled. There was something suspicious in that smile…something that Barsoum didn't pick up on.

"Improvise." 

Barsoum looked at Tank dubiously. "This I gotta see." 

"Oh of course you'll see…you're the one who'll get the stuff for me." 

Barsoum simply raised an eyebrow. "Yea…right." 

************************************

"How the fuck did he talk me into this?" Barsoum said, his voice muffled by the cardboard box he was in. It was a rather large box, having been scrounged from lord knew where. While Tank had been searching for the box, Barsoum had gone deeper into the woods to contemplate what he had learned. He had found that if he totally relaxed, he could pass through anything. With some effort, he could become completely solid, without any glow. 

Although the last discovery wasn't without its drawbacks, such as dizziness, nausea, and an acute sense of falling…which he did do after holding the form for twenty minutes. It was less painful for him to materialize certain parts of his body, such as his hands or his feet. In fact, that didn't bother him at all. He still didn't totally figure out how Tank had hit him in the first place, or why, even though they fought for a good long while and he was solid at the time, it didn't hardly phase him then. 

He didn't get to think on this long though. He remembered the conversation he had with Tank when he came back with the box. 

_"So…what's that for?"  
  
"It's for you."  
  
"Say wha? Hell no!"  
  
"Common…you're the only one here who can hide in a box and sneak in without a problem."  
  
"Bullshit! Lookit me! I'm a glowing freak!"  
  
"You'll be in the box man! They won't see that."  
  
"I don't wanna go in the box!"  
  
"Get in the box man."  
  
"No way."  
  
"Don't make me pull rank."  
  
"Phhft, yea right."  
  
"Hey, be a part of the team here. There is no 'I' in the word 'Team'."  
  
"No, but there is an 'e' and an 'm' which spells 'Me' so I ain't doing it."  
  
"Barsoum…you're getting into the box!"  
  
"You touch me…I'll kill ya."  
  
"Get your ass in the box!"  
  
"Don't do it! I don't wanna get in the box! HEY ABBOT!"  
  
"What the hell did you say that for?"  
  
"Dunno."_

In the end, Barsoum did in fact get into the box. Tank was right, he was the only one. Using his newfound ability, he was able to walk the box over to a nearby clothing shop, while inside it. 

They did it early the next morning, allowing Barsoum to work on his concentration. 

Inside the box Barsoum sat, waiting. It wouldn't be long till it was showtime, although he had doubts about the plan. 

"Who'll really fall for this? Where'd he get such a dumbass idea?" He muttered to himself, settling in to work on his concentration some more. 

Across the street, hiding in some bushes, Tank watched. 

"Heheh…it's payback time. That'll teach ya to talk like Obi-Wan while I try to sleep." Tank snickered, amazed that Barsoum actually decided to go through with the plan. 

At that moment, the door to the shop opened, and the owner came out, broom in hand. He was a short man, wearing a light blue button-up shirt and tan trousers. Upon his face, some squarish looking glasses perched on his nose, his dark hair cut short. The man looked harmless. He looked at the box, and scratched his head a little, obviously confused. He walked around it, looking for any address labels or something as to what it might be about. Finally, perplexed, he hit it with the broom handle, although, unbeknownst to him, it was where Barsoum's head was at. 

"OW FUCK!" He rubbed the spot. 

Outside the box, the man had heard Barsoum, and saw the box shake. 

"Oh no! Not again! You stupid kids won't get me this time!" He rushed into the store, then came back out, wielding a sharp looking katana. 

"Die!" He started to hack away at the box. 

"Holy shit!" Barsoum cried out, his normally tanned face pale when the blade went through the box the first time. In short order the box was cut to shreds, but, lucky for him, Barsoum wasn't. He sat in a ball, with his hands over his head as the man looked at him strangely. 

"What is this?" He asked aloud. 

Barsoum raised his head, then stood up. "Whew…that was close." 

"Saaaaaaaa!" He looked up to see the nut coming at him with the sword again, screaming hysterically. 

"Oh no you don't!" The last thing the owner saw was a glowing being come at him. Barsoum clasped onto the owner's hand with the hilt of the sword upraised, and landed a hard punch to the man's gut, dropping him. "God damn! What the hell is the matter with you? You stupid piece of shit!" For good measure he kicked the guy, then entered the store. 

Back in the bush, Tank closed his jaw. "Well…I'm glad it was him in that box after all." 

********************************************

"Not bad man." Tank looked at the stuff Barsoum had brought back. Amazingly enough, noone had seen the whole thing, from start to finish. Surprising to say the least, but they didn't dwell on it long. 

"Yea, he had a pretty decent selection of stuff, even if he was a crazy fucker." Barsoum nodded, pleased with himself. "Even picked up a nice tent for myself." Barsoum went to set up his tent, but before he started, he said, "Oh, by the way, here's the guy's dough." 

Tank looked at him in shock. "You robbed the register?" 

"Hell no…it was what was on him. The register was locked up tight." He said nonchalantly. Tank still looked at him. 

"Hey, he tried to kill me, I'd say we broke even." Barsoum went back to his work, the sword leaning against a tree. 

For his part, Tank thought about it, and came to the conclusion that, in a way, it was a kinda even trade off. He went back to work on arranging his new stash of stuff, most of which he stuffed into a big green nylon travel bag, with extendable handle and lazy wheels, only $59.99. 

He looked over his goods, nodding to himself. "Things are looking up a bit." He said softly, hoping that it continued. "Now…to get down to training." 

**********************************************

**_Back over at the clothing shop…_**

"I swear! I was attacked by an evil spirit!" The hysterical shop owner cried to the detective. A small crowd had gathered around the man as he spun his tale, looking at him as if he had grown a second head. 

"He came in a evil box, which I was able to destroy before he attacked me! I swear to you that he was an evil spirit! He glowed blue and had fire in his eyes, and he was…he was dark, with green and brown and black spots all over him! I swear that this is the truth!" He looked at the detective and his partner with beseeching eyes. 

The cop merely smacked his lips together, saying, "Uh huh. And who robbed your store?" 

"I do not know. The phantom attacked me, and he knocked me out." His eyes flashed, "**He** could have robbed me! That phantom must have wanted to curse my business!" 

"Sir…" The cop had to restrain a sigh, "…if he was a phantom, as you say…why would he need clothing? Why not take your register instead?" 

Doubt crept into the owner's face, doubt about his own sanity, the unfairness of life. "I…"

The detective turned to his partner and rolled his eyes, while reaching for an extra card. "Sir, if you find anything else missing, or have any more to tell us, let us know." He pulled his felt down a bit lower against a strong breeze, then started to walk away. 

"Man…I tell ya." He mumbled to his partner, who'd been silent the whole time. "These crimes are getting stranger by the month." The other man simply shrugged as they entered their car and drove off, leaving a highly befuddled owner short a sword, a portion of his floor inventory, his pocket money, and….

*****************************

"Barsoum…did you steal the toilet paper?" Tank asked, hands on his hips as he watched his buddy cheerfully shove rolls into his tent. He had changed from his BDUs to a pair of blue shorts, a white T shirt, and a pair of Nikes that were a size too large. 

"Well of course. A dude has to shit, and unless you see any latrines out here, there isn't jack to wipe your ass with here." Barsoum smiled, very cheerful. 

Tank couldn't restrain a smile completely. "Ok…you got a point." He turned and walked away to sit on a log next to their fire. 

Barsoum finished up, and had changed his clothing to something much more comfortable as well before sitting on an identical log. Tank poked the coals, adding a piece of wood or two to keep it going. 

"So what's the plan?" The Californian asked, looking into the fire through his glasses. 

Tank thought a moment as he poked the coals again. "To be honest, I'm not totally certain. I'm kinda playing things by ear really. Tomarrow I'll try to make contact with Ranma, and see if he'll help with the training." He felt a grumble from his belly, realizing that it had been awhile since he last ate. He reached into his new satchel and pulled out a tin can of some processed meat. Barsoum watched as Tank put a couple holes into the can, and sat it next to the fire to cook. 

"You sure you want to eat that stuff?" 

Tank shrugged, saying, "I've been eating it a good while now man. It's not bad, whatever it is. This isn't Korea though, so that helps. Taste's like beef hash." His friend made a face before standing up. 

"Eh, no thanks buddy. You just enjoy your meal. I'm going to see what else I can….whoa!" A small missile barely missed Barsoum as he dodged. 

His eyes narrowed, glaring at the creature that threw the bark piece. 

"Tkatakatakataka!" The squirrel chattered away at him. 

"Not my fault you missed bitch." Barsoum called back, slowly reaching for the sword leaning against the tree. 

"Now…die!!!!" He screamed as he yanked the sword free of its sheath, charging the grounded squirrel for all his worth, jumping over fire and Tank in a single bound, although Tank did fall backwards. 

"God dammit!" He yelled as Barsoum charged, his eyes filled with a maniacal desire for revenge. 

"Uh oh!" The squirrel chirped in a high pitched voice, although how it acquired a usage of the English language was beyond the two men…although Barsoum had other things on his mind. 

"You son-of-a-bitch, I'll make you into a fucking sandwich!" He cried, chasing the squirrel over a downed branch, through bushes, and around trees, swinging deliberately and with great strength, barely missing the tail on more than one occasion before the squirrel finally came to its senses and rushed up a tree, out of reach of the crazy Egyptian with the sword. Safe above on a limb he chattered away angrily…or was it laughter? 

Tank rubbed his head, muttering, "Who's crazier? That owner, or Barsoum?" 

He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. 

**********************************************

**_Present time…_**

"A proposition eh? And just who are you?" Ranma asked, his arms crossed. 

"Call me Tank." The newcomer reached out a hand, friendly. 

Ranma raised an eyebrow, saying, "You sure don't look like a tank…whaddya want?" He didn't take the hand. 

The man lowered his arm, shrugging as he did so. "I don't want much. I wanted to offer you a deal is all." Tank looked up, still smiling slightly. 

Ranma didn't blink, not sure where things were leading. He didn't feel a threat though. "What kind of deal?" 

"Training deal." Was the quick response. Ranma blinked several times rapidly as Tank continued. 

"See, I've found myself to be in a rather…serious situation, and I need training in the martial arts." Ranma started to walk, motioning Tank to follow. 

"Alright. And you want me to train you." Ranma finished, not truly buying the story. _"What is it about this guy that's got me on edge?" _ He asked himself. 

"That's the size of it. I do have a good friend who knows Sho Ren Ryu, and kickboxing, but I want as wide a variety as possible." Tank spoke quickly, feeling he was getting somewhere. 

"What's in it for me?" It was the moment of truth. Tank had known that the question would be asked. After all, you can't get something for nothing, not in terms of skills anyways. He hadn't been sure what to offer in return, and still didn't have a clue as to what to offer, so he took the next best route, come what may. 

"I'll let you name the price Ranma." Tank said, surprising the fighter. "I'll tell you now that I don't have much in the way of money, except for what's in my pocket now, but I'll be more than willing to work something out with you." Ranma gazed at the red head, seeing nothing but sincerity in the face and eyes. 

"Hmm…alright, I'll consider it." Ranma saw the surprise, and then the disappointment, both of which flashed by in a matter of a moment. If he hadn't been looking direct he probably would have missed it. 

Tank nodded, hiding his disappointment. "I guess that's the most I can expect, considering that I did drop in on you unexpectedly." 

Ranma nodded once. Then he asked, "How about you come with me?" He added hastily. "I can't think on an empty stomach." 

Tank thought a moment, and then nodded in reply. "Lead the way then." 

They walked on in silence, Ranma balanced on a fence with his arms behind his head, and Tank walking on the street with his hands in his pockets. Both men were thinking furisouly, while calm outwardly. 

"_Ok, why does he want me there? He's usually a straight shooter." _ Tank puzzled over it a moment._ "Hmmm…maybe he wants Nabiki to come up with a deal? Oh hell, that would suck royally."_ Tank shuddered, fearing slavery or something else along those lines. 

On the fence post, Ranma was having thoughts along the same line. _ "Why does he want me to train him? He seems sincere, but…he's hiding something. He knows more about me than he lets on. What could he know though? And this deal…what should I do? He'll honor it, I'm sure, but…I don't usually do deals. Maybe Nabiki…" _ He shook his head slightly,_ "Nah, Nabiki would probably make him a slave or something. Or want lots of money, something he said he can't give." _ Ranma gazed at Tank, looking at his face closely. He was interested in the man, an obvious foreigner, but for the life of him couldn't seem to see through the man's facial shield. It seemed frozen, almost as if it were carved of living metal. Even when he smiled, he could see the shielding in place in the eyes, although they did come down for a brief moment a couple times. Ranma turned his attention back to his path. 

It didn't take long, and soon the Tendo dojo came into view. Ranma hopped down from the fence he'd been walking along, saying, "Here's where I live. Common, I'll show you around." He entered the gate, Tank in tow. 

"Oh hello Ranma!" Kasumi called, waving. "And who is your friend?" 

Tank spoke up before Ranma could answer, a smile on his face again. "Hello, you must be Kasumi. I'm Tank. I spoke to you on the phone." He stepped forward, and then bowed respectfully. 

A look of surprise crossed both teens faces. It surprised Ranma because he knew Kasumi and he bowed instead of offering a handshake this time. It surprised Kasumi, and she felt slightly frightened that the man before her knew her, and was the man on the phone earlier too boot! His bow though eased her a bit though, and she managed to smile and bow back. 

"A pleasure to meet you Tank. Will you be staying for dinner?" She asked pleasantly. 

Tank looked to Ranma with a questioning glance. Ranma got the hint. "Uh yea, he'll stay for dinner. He wants me to train him." 

"Oh, well that's nice." Kasumi said, wondering how she was going to feed yet another mouth. 

Tank interrupted her thoughts. "Since I'll be eating at your table Kasumi, is there anything you'd like from me? I don't have much, but I'll gladly pay for my meal at least." 

Kasumi was speechless. Nobody who was new to the house had ever offered to pay before. "That's…very nice of you Tank, but that really isn't necessary." She managed to say, even though the offer was highly tempting. 

Tank pursed his lips a bit, and then nodded, pulling a hand out of his pocket with a small wad of money in it. "Then, allow me to donate to the family. For services rendered." He offered gracisouly, while inside his head he debated, _"She told you no you twit! No still means no!" _ That incessant voice in the back of his mind said. _ "No fuckin shit Sherlock. It is only the courteous thing to do though, and these people need any help they can get!" _ That ended the debate, as the voice really couldn't argue that point. 

Kasumi took the money and held it to her chest, a warm smile now on her face. "Thank you very much. We greatly appreciate it." 

From the side Ranma had watched, surprised yet again at how the man acted. _ "Cold and hard one second, then a gentleman the next…what is it with this guy?"_

Ranma brushed past the older man, muttering over his shoulder, "Follow me." 

Tank bowed again to Kasumi, saying, "Thank you again Kasumi. I also apologize for startling you earlier." 

_"Yea, although figuring out the damn phone sure was a trip." _ Tank thought to himself, really wishing he had some way to read Japanese as he did speaking and hearing it. 

Kasumi bowed in response, and Tank walked by into the house. To his left he saw a living room style area, with floor couches, a TV, and a small coffee table of some kind. On one of the couches leaned an attractive young woman, with short brown hair. She looked at him for but a moment before returning her bored gaze to the TV, dismissing him. Tank shrugged, inwardly glad that she didn't show any more interest than that. A battle of wits really wasn't something he was in the mood for. 

He followed Ranma to the back yard, where there was a small pond in the middle. To his right was the actual training hall, from which he heard lots of high-pitched yells. Tank smirked, thinking,_ "Must be Akane at work again." _ As they walked over to the training hall, they passed two older men, both of which seemed to be highly involved in a game of some sort. Tank stopped a moment to watch, noticing that one of them, the man in the brown karate outfit, seemed to be in a fix. Ranma turned, curious as to what Tank was up to. The other man, who wore a pair of glasses, a white outfit, and a white handkerchief on his head finally noticed the newcomer, but didn't say anything, waiting to see what his opponent would do. 

Finally, Tank asked, "Mind if I make a small suggestion?" The brown-clad man looked up in surprise, so lost in thought he had been in. "Ahh…sure." He blinked. 

Tank pointed to an open spot. "Take that there. Game over." Soun looked at it a moment, then realized that it was true. He smacked his piece down with a flourish, crying out his triumph. 

"Hah! Take that Saotome!" Soun crowed, his head seeming to be several sizes larger than normal. 

Genma glared at the newcomer, but said softly, "You really should show more respect. It was our game after all." 

Tank nodded his ascent, "Granted. Normally I wouldn't have done that, but after nearly five minutes without any movement, I could tell that he was thinking too hard. I don't know this game that well, Chess is my thing." Tank shrugged as he continued, "Besides, you're just pissed because I showed him something you really didn't want him to see." 

Genma growled slightly, while Soun asked, "Is this true Saotome?" 

"Errr…yes." Genma managed to get out, still glaring at the red head, who gazed back dispassionately. 

"Well stranger, you have my gratitude." Soun shook Tank's hand, oblivious to Genma's anger. 

Tank shook it back happily, saying, "You're welcome sir. Glad to be of help. And call me Tank." 

Soun nodded, releasing the soldiers hand as he turned back to his angry companion. "Another match Saotome?" 

Genma turned back to the board. "Yes Tendo. I don't want any interruptions this time." He looked knowingly at Tank, who shrugged it off. 

Ranma motioned Tank forward, and they went into the Training hall, where a particularly loud yell was heard, just before a loud crack sounded from within. 

"That's Akane. You saw Nabiki, and that was my Pops and Soun Tendo." He told Tank, who hadn't asked. As they entered they saw Akane standing over a small pile of tiles, panting hard. Her white outfit had some sweat spots on it, and her dark blue hair was matted. 

Tank shook his head slightly, amazed again. _"Even these girls look better in real life."_ He thought, taking Akane in a quick glance. She turned at the sound of Ranma's voice, her eyes hard at first, and then opened wide as she saw that he wasn't alone. 

"Hey Akane. This is Tank. He wants me to train him." Ranma said simply. Akane's eyes though became hard again. 

"You mean to tell me that you'll train a total stranger, but you won't train me?!" She yelled, jealous. 

"I didn't say I was gunna do it yet." He answered, his face perplexed. "He just asked me a little while ago. I haven't decided on it yet." Akane now glared at Tank, who stared back without flinching. 

"Akane…I'm going to say this once, whether Ranma trains me or not." Tank crossed his arms. "You can drop the 'You bastard' look, because I'm not buying it. Ranma just told you that I asked, and that he hasn't decided yet. You need to chill out, or you'll get hurt someday." 

"What was that?!?!" She cried out, enraged. 

"You heard me. Enough." Tank said, still standing serenely. Ranma slipped away from the soldier, waiting to see what all would happen. 

"I'll show you hurt!" Akane charged at Tank, her hands blades. Tank furrowed his brow as Akane curled her hand into a fist, holding it back behind her head for a knockout blow. He waited. The punch came in, straight and true. But it missed. Or rather, was redirected. Tank uncrossed his arms, deflecting with one arm and grabbing her armpit with the free hand. Without a sound he flung her over his shoulder, slamming her on the floor. The wind knocked was knocked out of her, but it was far from a finishing move. She rolled away, and stood up, this time looking at him in surprise. 

Tank stood in his stance just a couple feet away, watching, silent and calm. "Akane, you need to chill out now." He said simply. Ranma watched, a hand on his chin as the fight unfolded. 

"You got lucky that time!" She yelled, taking up her own stance. 

"Wrong, but you're too pissed to see the answer." He replied. This just angered her more. She jumped up and flew at him in a flying kick, aimed to take his head off, but he simply ducked to the left. She landed, following it up with a spin kick to his gut. It didn't make it. His left hand held her leg inches from its target. Before she could do anything, he yanked, pulling her towards him, and then hitting her with a couple quick jabs in her gut and chest as she fell forward. She landed hard, but rolled away, even more enraged then before. 

"You pervert!" She cried, rubbing a breast. For his part, Tank looked apologetic. 

"My bad." He said simply, thinking to himself, _"Oh shit…now ya done it."_

She came in a dash, swinging wildly at him, most of which he was able to avoid or deflect. She managed to get a fast kick into his crotch before he could block it though, and from over by the door Ranma winced. Tank dropped, holding his area, while she stood over him with a superior smirk on her face. 

"Ooops…my bad." She sneered. 

"You're right…your bad." He said, no pain in his voice. He looked up, smirking himself. "You just barely missed." 

Before she could get in another word, he tackled her, landing on top of her stomach with his shoulder. He rolled off, and then whirled back, his Beretta in his hand and in her face. She looked at him in total surprise and shock. She didn't expect him to be armed. 

Neither did Ranma. His muscles were knotted, and his teeth ground together as Tank took in deep breathes, his aim unwavering. 

Tank looked at her frightened eyes, and said simply, "If this had been a real battle, you would have been killed. I told you to chill out, and you disregarded it." He pulled the pistol away, slipping it back into his waistband, and stood up. "Lose control of your emotions, and you lose control of your mind. You can't think if you're angry." 

He gazed at her with much older eyes, "I didn't do anything to deserve being attacked. You fucked up." 

She gazed up at him, slightly ashamed, but mostly pissed at him for pointing out the truth. Ranma had relaxed, but his measure of the man had changed greatly. 

_"He had her. Had her bad. But he's right."_ He gazed at the man, more questions than ever on his mind. _"He's not bad, but needs some work." _ He finally came to a decision. 

Tank held a hand out to Akane, who glared at it a moment. The red head sighed, saying, "There is no loss of honor in accepting a hand. You simply got a lesson you really needed, even if you don't know it yet." 

She looked away, eyebrows knitted together. "I don't need your help. I can take care of myself." She sat up, knocking the offered hand away. 

"He's right Akane." She looked in shock at Ranma, who had his arms crossed again. "He didn't do anything to deserve it. You lost because you got angry." Ranma walked over to where Tank was standing and Akane was sitting. 

He looked at Tank, still slightly upset. "I'll do it. I'll train ya." Tank nodded, while Akane dropped her jaw. 

"Ranma…you can't!" Ranma ignored her comment though as he uncrossed his arms, fists clenched. 

Tank picked up his mood, and took a step back. "What's the price?" 

"It'll be a big one. Tank, I challenge you." Ranma cracked his knuckles, slowly taking up his stance. 

_"Shit!"_ Tank thought simply, taking up a stance of his own. He reached back and pulled the Beretta out. He removed the magazine, and then placed both on the floor, kicking them aside. Akane looked up, surprised as both men gazed at each other dispassionately. 

"I had hoped I wouldn't have to be tested this way, but I accept your challenge." Tank said. 

"You shouldn't have pulled the gun. I don't like it when people threaten my friends." Ranma answered. 

Tank replied, "You know I was right though. And while I'll fight you, I won't lie, I'll lose." He worked his feet out of his shoes and socks, kicking them over to where the pistol lay. 

"At least you know what's coming." Ranma said angrily. 

Tank picked up the mood, and called out to Akane, "Akane, take notice. He's angry, but he's not letting it control him. You want to win…you need to learn this kind of control." 

Akane glowered, but noticed that Ranma hadn't flinched. 

_"You…are so fucked."_ That voice called out in the back of his head. _"Yea…I know."_ He replied to it silently, watching Ranma closely. 

Without warning, the cursed martial artist was in Tank's face, nailing him with hard punch to his chest. Tank knocked back a bit, but managed to land a right jab in Ranma's face. Ranma simply smiled, then returned the favor with several jabs of his own. Tank managed to deflect a couple, but most got through. Ranma then pulled a fast foot sweep, but Tank countered by simply lifting up the front part of his foot, catching the leg. Ranma responded by throwing his pivoting foot out, nailing the tanker in the gut. As he was knocked back, Tank grabbed the outstretched foot, pulling Ranma towards him. The pig-tailed fighter spun his body though, nailing Tank with his other foot in the head. Tank fell to the floor, rolling away and coming up in a crouch. He felt something trickle down. He didn't bother to look, knowing what it was. 

_"Damn…he's fast! He's toying with me though." _ Tank thought out as his gut burned in flame. He ignored it though, as he stood back up, taking up his stance. Ranma smirked, once again in his stance. 

As dumb as it was, Tank couldn't help but smile. "Ok…common bucko." He took his raised right hand and used it to wave his opponent forward. Ranma smirked, coming quite willingly. 

From the sidelines Akane watched as the red head took a pounding, but kept fighting. She had stepped away from the two at the beginning, waiting to see the outcome. Something hit her foot, and when she looked down, she saw the pistol and magazine. Curious, she reached down and picked up the magazine, gazing inside. 

"It's…empty." She said softly. 

True, it was empty. It had been empty the whole time. Tank had left the round behind, intending to use the pistol to simply pistol-whip anyone who might attack him. He needed that round for later, whenever he got around to being in a position to buy more bullets. 

She looked back up at the fight, watching as Tank took more hits to the face, a couple more cuts now there. His once white shirt was slightly bloodied, but he continued to fight his hopeless fight. 

_"Dammit Tank think! Find a hole and use it!" _ That damn voice screamed as more punishment landed on him. Try as he might, he really couldn't find a hole that he could see. Any holes that appeared, were nothing more than traps, and Tank knew it. The training with Barsoum wasn't a total waste at least. Tank decided to change tactics. 

Ranma nailed him with a sweep, landing Tank on the floor. Quickly he rolled away, but not to the right as he had been doing. Ranma didn't catch it in time, and could only watch, with his right arm extended for where Tank would have been, as Tank got up, and planted the hardest kick he could possibly throw into Ranma's side, throwing him a good couple feet away. Ranma held the spot in pain for a moment, then pivoted and charged. He noticed something different though, but didn't dwell on it for very long as he came in a slide, determined to take the man down. 

Tank didn't wait for that though. He jumped over the lowered fighter, twisting to follow Ranma's movement as he did so. When he landed, he came in hard, landing as hard a punch into Ranma as he started to stand again. The punch sent Ranma back down, but he rolled backwards and launched himself into the air with his arms. He landed on his feet a short distance away, a couple bruises on his side and in his chest the only evidence that Tank had done anything. He gazed in admiration at his opponent. 

"Not bad. You got a couple good ones on me." Ranma rubbed the spots as they reminded him of what Tank had done. "You're better than I thought, and a lot tougher." 

Standing in a Barsoum's stance, Tank smiled back. "Yea, well I hope you have more than what you've been throwing at me." Tank taunted, ignoring the screaming voice. It was his voice anyway and he could do that if he wanted too. "I know you're holding back. You've got a bunch of special techniques that you have yet to pull out. I'm also sure you're pulling your punches." Ranma nodded, impressed. 

"Ok, yea. I'll admit it. I was pulling my punches." He said. _ "He's a lot better than I gave him credit for. He picked up that I was pulling my punches. He also changed his style on me." _ He gazed at the stance, which he recognized as being that of Sho Ren Ryu. "You don't know that style fully do you?" He called out. 

"Nope. But I'm adaptable. Whatever works for me." Tank replied. His body was aching a bit. Pulled or not, he'd taken some damage. 

"So, are we going to finish this?" Tank asked, again beckoning. Ranma could only gaze in wonder. 

_"The man can't win…yet he taunts me anyways. Who are you?" _ Ranma simply nodded in reply, taking up his stance again. 

Tank tensed up, and then he surprised his opponent. 

He charged. 

Taking the offensive, Tank landed several blows into the martial artist before he expected them. Tank fought all out, giving all that he had, and then some. He wasted no motion, conserving nothing as he swung and kicked at Ranma, who had regained his composure and was blocking most of the attacks. 

Akane watched in amazement as the red head put his heart and soul into his attacks, the stone-faced mask he wore when he arrived, even when he fought her was gone completely. His face was alive, focused on his target. Fire seemed to fill his eyes, but he didn't lose control. He wasn't getting through Ranma's defense, except on a lucky shot, but he didn't let that enrage him. He just kept coming, despite Ranma's counters. If he felt the return hits, he didn't show it. 

"So…that's how he got his name." Akane whispered. She saw something else in those fire filled blue eyes, something she really couldn't place. 

Ranma had seen the change as well. As well he should, he was on the receiving end of the older man's attacks. He saw the change in Tank's face just before he attacked, but he didn't expect it as fast as it happened. _ "As much as I hit him back, it doesn't seem to phase him. I'm not pulling my punches anymore, yet he keeps coming."_ They locked arms for a moment, teeth gritting, glaring into each other's eyes. Ranma broke off, but Tank came in again, landing a hard punch into the cursed fighters face. 

It rocked Ranma back a bit, but he brought his guard up, prepared this time. The older man changed tactics again, this time landing a sweep. Ranma barely managed to dodge it, and quickly opened the distance between the two. 

Ranma panted a bit, not having worked out like that in a while. Tank looked at him, his face filled with the rush of the challenge and the flush of battle, although he had more bruises for his efforts, panting heavily. 

Ranma felt his body ache a little bit as well. _ "He's strong. And tough. Those eyes though…those are the eyes of a man who has nothing to lose." _ Tank's voice interrupted his train of thought. 

"Ranma…it's time…to finish it." Tank said weakly. His strength was about over, the rush of adrenaline leaving his body wasted. "Take your pick of technique, I've given all I have." 

"My…pick?" Ranma said, at a loss for words. Tank rolled his eyes. 

"Fine, I'll pick." Tank straightened himself out, closing his eyes for a moment to center himself, before gazing at Ranma, the shields back in place. His guard was still up, but he knew he had nothing left, especially against what was about to come. "The Chestnut Fist." He said. 

Ranma and Akane both dropped their jaws. "How…how did you know about that technique?" 

Tank smiled, some warmth there. "If you want information as part of the payment, then say so." 

Ranma glared at the evasive answer. "Fine, whenever I ask you something, I want you to tell me. This will last as long as I train you!" He said angrily. 

Tank simply nodded. "Bring it on." 

"Aaaaaaah!!!!" Ranma rushed in a yell, crying out, "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Hundreds of punches seemed to fly at Tank, who simply crossed his arms in an X in front of his chest, his head lowered so that his face was protected by the arms. Blow after blow rained down on him, and he felt every single one. Finally, Ranma backed up, gazing at the man before him in wonder. His white shirt had a few tears in it, as did his trousers, but nothing major. Bruises covered his crossed arms from his defense of the Chestnut Fist. 

Tank lifted his head wearily, smirked, and said, "Who's…your… daddy?" Then he collapsed to his knees, groaning, before falling to his face, barely able to catch himself with his aching arms and keeping him from smashing his face more. 

The two teens gazed at the collapsed man, more questions on their minds than he was able to answer at the moment. 

Ranma broke from his gaze quickly, and turned to Akane. "Hey, go get Pops and your Dad. We have to help him." Akane looked to her fiancé, then back to Tank, and then simply nodded and rushed off to help the man she hated at first. 

Ranma walked over, and placed Tank's weapon under his tunic. "Best keep this out of Pop's sight." 

He heard a groan behind him, and when he turned, he saw Tank struggling to flip himself over. Ranma rushed over and helped him onto his back. Tank slowly opened his eyes, and turned to the younger man. "Guess…I'll be staying the night too. And me…without rent money, heh." His breathing was labored, but not rasping. 

"Don't talk. Just rest. You put up a good fight." Tank nodded in silent thanks. 

"Tell me…why did you make me go all out." Tank laughed a bit at the question. 

"Training began the moment I fought Akane. Call it a strength test. I wanted to see what my limit was." Genma, Soun and Akane rushed into the training hall as he said this, crouching around the fallen man. 

"What did you do son?" Soun asked, more fearful of a lawsuit than anything else. Tank answered though. 

"I attacked your daughter. He defended her honor by challenging me in return." Akane's eyes widened. Tank looked at her shaking his head very slightly. "Isn't that right Akane?" 

The two older men gazed at her, and she quickly said, "Yes, that's what happened." 

Confused slightly, they decided to accept it, since they had yet to hear any rebuttals from Ranma. "Shall we call an ambulance?" Soun asked Genma. 

"I'm going to train him Pop." Ranma said quickly. Both men gazed at him, more in bewilderment than anything else. 

"And this is how you start training?" Soun cried. 

"Boy! This is not how you train potential students!" Genma joined in. They were about to tear into Ranma verbally when Tank spoke up again. 

"It was part of the challenge. I had asked him to train me, and I had to accept the challenge. It was my deal, I asked for it." His voice was strong again. "I had him go all out. It was my test. The decision was on me, not him. I basically forced him into it." 

Ranma thought about it, and figured that it was, more or less true. 

"Well…if that's the case then…" Genma managed to get out. 

"Let's take him inside Saotome." 

"Indeed Tendo." 

They lifted Tank carefully, and took him into the main house. 

Kasumi watched them carry him in, placing a hand up to her mouth in surprise, "Oh my!" Ranma limped very slightly into the house, Akane walking beside him. 

Nabiki looked up as the men went upstairs, and she raised an eyebrow. "What happened to him?" She asked. 

"He fought Ranma, as part of a deal to get him to train him." Akane answered. 

"Really?" Nabiki's eyes narrowed slightly. She could have made a killing on the photos, considering that Ranma was actually bruised a bit from his fight. That didn't happen every day. 

She got up and followed everyone else upstairs to one of the guest rooms. Soun and Genma had placed Tank on the bed, and had already removed the shirt to examine him. "He's in good shape, considering." Soun murmured. At a quick glance it would be hard to tell. Blood from some small cuts was on his face, and there were bruises all over his torso and arms. 

Nabiki gazed at him, thinking silently, _ doesn't look to bad actually. A foreign red head…hmmm." _ mind clicked away, thinking of the possibilities. Tank felt their gaze and opened his eyes. He turned to face them, saying, "Ok guys, that's good enough." He gathered himself, then slowly, painfully started to pull himself up into a sitting position. 

"You should lie down!" Genma cried, as both he and Soun rushed to force him to comply. 

"Enough!" Tank barked, stopping them in their tracks. He looked at them, and spoke in a softer tone, "Look, I appreciate it greatly. I don't mean to be ungracious at all. But I know my body better than you do, and I actually have training that you don't in this department." As he talked he was feeling himself over, checking for broken bones or blood spots. 

"Yes, I need to rest. You are right there." His eyes hardened a bit. "Don't ever try to force me to do anything though. Understood?" 

Genma and Soun simply nodded, while Nabiki looked on in wonder as the man finished his self-exam. Tank looked at Ranma, asking, "Could you help me to the lat…er…bathroom? I could use a soak." Ranma nodded, leaning down so Tank could borrow his shoulder. Painfully he managed to stand, and together they headed down to the foyer. Nabiki looked on while they walked slowly away, asking herself, _"Who is this guy?"_

**_To be continued…._**

Whew….another long one. Hope you all enjoyed. 

BTW, if you want an email notification (for those of you who aren't paying for Support Services at FanFiction) just leave me your email in your review, or simply email me instead. I have no problem letting you know when I get a new chapter up. 

Keep reading, and I hope you are enjoying it. 

¤§¤  
RBL_M1A2Tanker

  
  
  



	4. Chapter 3: Recovery

**_*Authors' Note:_**_  My apologies on the long delay.  Gotta love it when your comp decides that…for the next three weeks…it wasn't going to play anymore.  Sheesh.  Oh well, I've managed to get it up and running for now, and I'll be getting a new system next month._

_My apologies once again.  To make up for it, this'll be nice and long for you. __J___

_Enjoy! _

**_¤§¤_**

**_RBL_M1A2Tanker_**__

**__**

**_A Soldier in Tokyo._**

**_Chapter 3: Recovery._****_  
_** 

The two eased into the furo, sliding the door behind them.  Ranma slipped out from under Tanks' arm, letting him ease his aching body to the toilet seat to sit down wearily.  Ranma leaned against the counter opposite him with his arms crossed and a question on his face.

"So…'Tank'…just who are you?  What do you want?  Why are you here?  And how do you know me?"  

Tank grimaced slightly, whether from pain or from remembering his deal Ranma wasn't certain.  

"I…I'm not sure how to explain…"  Ranma interrupted.

"You made the deal.  Now you have to honor it, if you know what's good for ya."  

Tank snorted, "Please kid, I know damn well I made the deal.  If you had waited a sec I would have tried my best to explain."  He took in a few breaths, then reached over to the tub to fill it with hot water, speaking slowly.

"You may find some of what I tell you a little hard to believe, but I assure you, it's true, and I find it as hard to believe as you."  Tank pulled out a washcloth, dampening it in the filling tub to dab his face, then removed the rest of his clothing before slipping into the tub.  Ranma waited a few minutes as he did this, getting irritated by the moment.

"You going to tell me?"  

Sighing, Tank finally gazed at the young martial artist with tired eyes.  "To be honest, I really don't know how to explain."

"Try from the beginning maybe?"  Ranma tossed out sarcastically.

Tank chuckled slightly at that.  "You sound like Nabiki almost."  Tank held up a hand to halt the litany before it began.  "I'm a 22 year old tank crewman in the United States Army.  Maybe oooh…a month ago now, I was in the field in Texas conducting maneuvers with my crew when I went to investigate a disturbance late at night."  Which was true enough…although some of the details would, naturally, have to be forgotten.

"Before I knew it, I was knocked unconscious, and left in the woods.  When I awoke, I found myself in a wooded area in Tokyo.  I've been living in Tokyo ever since."  He felt his bruised muscles relax as the hot water did its work.  

He continued, "A few days ago, I ran into the Sailor Scouts while they battled some critter.  I managed to get myself thoroughly involved, pissed off the creatures boss, and so I'm now looking for ways to prepare myself incase I'm ever attacked by those guys.  I also pissed off the Scouts, so they might be gunning for me too."

Silence filled the room while the water finished filling the tub.  Tank reached over and shut off the water, then leaded back, steam slowly rising.   He continued.

"Since I've pissed off some rather dangerous folks, I figured I need some training.  Without a tank, crew and ammo, there really isn't too much I can do.  So I sought out you."  He thought for a second as Ranma soaked that in.  "By the way…what year is it?"

Ranma blinked a few times at the sudden change in subject before warily answering, "Ahh…94.  Why?"

"94?  You're shitting me?"  Tank looked directly at the pig-tailed lad in some surprise.  A head shake was the reply.  He leaned back against the tub, sighing heavily.

Curious, Ranma asked again, "Why?  Why is that important?"

Tank laughed, but there was no humor in it.  "Well, it's important because now I'm in the wrong year.  Not to mention…" He stopped.

"Mention what?"  Ranma was starting to get irritated.

Tank seemed to think about answering for a bit, obvious that he didn't really want to, but finally did.  "Not to mention…I'm in the wrong world."

Ranma snorted.  "Common…you expect me to believe all that?"  _"Maybe I hit him in the head too hard or something."_

The man whose sanity was in question shrugged.  "I don't know, you tell me.  Need proof?"  

Ranma nodded emphatically.  "You bet I do!"  

Tank pointed to his pants on the floor.  "In the front pocket is my wallet.  Open it and you'll see my military ID card.  On the back of the card is the date of issue, which is the date I got that card.  It should say 2001 August 02."  

Ranma did as he instructed, pulling out the wallet and then the green card, smiling in the belief that he'll soon prove this guy insane.  

His smile slowly faded though, as, sure enough, the back of the card had a date of issue of 2001AUG02.  He looked it over some more, hoping to find some proof the guy was wrong.  Date of birth was 1979DEC27…maybe he was lying after all.

"Look here," He pointed to it, "this shows that you were born in 79.  That doesn't add up to 22 years."  

Tank rolled his eyes, slapping Ranma in the back of the head. "Are you always so dense?  Good lord man.  I told you I'm not in the right time.  I entered the Army in 1998, and got that card new in 2001, and when I ended up here it was 2002.  Think about it dude.  It adds up then. 

He looked up at the martial artist earnestly.  "According to you, this is 1994.  I should be in High School still.  Actually I was in Junior High…but that's not important."  

He leaned back.  "So…satisfied?  No?  Keep looking.  Should be a Driver's License, a Firearm Owners ID card.  Each of them with an expiration date in the early 2000's."

Sure enough, the cards where there.  Ranma dropped the wallet on the floor, mumbling, "Ok.  I believe ya.  What do you mean by wrong world though?"

A slight twitch seemed to pass on the corner of the soldier's lip.  Only someone trained to pick up slight muscle movements could have detected it, so quick it was.

"Ahh…" Tank seemed to be think a second.  "I can't tell you."  

"What?  Why not?"  

"You don't have the clearance for it."  Tank mentally patted himself for that brilliant idea.  "_Good work…that should keep the whole anime thing to myself."_

Ranma didn't feel the same way though.  "Look, you made a deal with me."

"Yea I know."  Tank looked up at the angered kid.  "Look man…do you teach Akane everything you know?"

Ranma seemed taken aback at the question.  "Of course not!"

"Why?"

He thought that over a moment.  "Because she can't handle that stuff yet.  Hey…are you trying to tell me that I can't handle it?"  

Tank sighed again.  "No you fucking dolt.  I'm telling you that it's not time yet.  I didn't tell the Sailor Scouts as much as I've told you today.  Suffice it to say, I know a lot about you and those you hang with because of it."

"Yea?  Like what?"  Ranma crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Like this…"  Tank took a handful of the now cool water and splashed Ranma with it, activating his curse.  His eyes popped for a moment as he adjusted to seeing a curse actually take place as Ranma changed from being a lean and muscular young man to a very busty and curvy red-head.  _"Shit…his female form looks damn good.  Pity there isn't any way to separate the two.  Oh  well."_

Ranma glared his…now her…blue eyes at him.  "What else do you know?"  Her voice was almost a growl.

Tank drained the water, feeling twice a much better than he did when he came in, and began to dry himself off, while tossing out what he knew.  It sounded strangely like a briefing if you think about it.  "Ranma Saotome, a 16 year old martial artist in the kempo style.  Highly skilled for his age due to numerous training trips with your father Genma Saotome.  Both of you went to Jusenkyo from your father's mistaken belief that it was a martial arts training ground, both of you landed in a cursed pool, taking on the effects of whatever drowned there last.  Your father becomes a panda, you become…well, you know."  He pointed to the obvious.

He continued, "You are the fiancé to Akane Tendo, although neither one of you really wish for it as it was a deal made by your fathers.  Akane is also 16, a martial artist in the martial sense of the term only, has battles with a bunch of guys at Furikan High School every day as part of one Takewaki Kunos' pronouncement that if they beat her in combat they shall date her.  Shall I continue?"

Ranma just stood there blinking, jaw dropped, for several minutes as Tank just tossed out the information as if it was an everyday fact before he could respond.  "Ahh…n-no.  Ahh…you're right.  I'm not ready for all that yet.  When it's time…let me know."

"Sure thing."  Tank said cheerfully, taking some hot water from the sink and splashing her with it, returning him to his uncursed state.

"Well, I'm feeling greatly better, but tomorrow I'll be one hell of a sore mess."  He could already feel the muscles tightening up again.  "Ranma, I might have to stay a little while while I recover.  That should be enough time for us to set up a training schedule.  That isn't a problem is it?"

"Eh, probably not."  Ranma was noncommittal.  He was ready for this strange day to end already.  

"Well, shall we go out there?  They're probably wondering how I'm doing."  Tank gestured to the door, now dressed again, following the younger man.  Before he got out the door though, something tickled the back of his mind, giving him an incredible urge to do something.  

And so he did.  He smacked the wall with the palm of his hand hard.  From further down the hall he heard someone cry out, and he smiled slightly to himself.

"Gotcha girl."

In a room elsewhere a startled and slightly in pain Nabiki removed her earphones.  "Shit!  That hurt!"  She cried out quietly.  "How'd he know about that?  Hmmm bet he doesn't know about my showerhead camera."  Her eyes glittered at the thought, but was still disturbed.  She would have contemplated it further but Kasumi's voice called from below.  "Dinner!"

She grunted slightly, determined to figure it out later.

**_At the Tokyo Zoo…_**

"Sailor Moon!  Watch out!"  Sailor Mars yelled as the creature they were fighting tossed an energy attack at their leader.  Said leader screamed hysterically, then tried to outrun it, but failed quite miserably.  Mars groaned loudly, saying, "How are we going to get out of this?"

Their day hadn't been going well.  A class trip to the Zoo had been planned for a long time now, as part of their Science class to have a more personal look at animal biology.  

What hadn't been planned was the Negaverse being a part of the trip.  Not long after their arrival there Zocite had arrived and begun to drain people left and right.  Naturally the Scouts mobilized for battle, but the dark General hadn't come alone.

Naturally.

"Jupiter Supreme Thunder!"  Sailor Jupiter sent a lighting blast at their foe, stunning it slightly, but not enough as it fired another of its seemingly endless blasts at her, sending Jupiter diving for cover.  

"This thing's tough!"  She spat out through gritted teeth.  The youma started blasting away at the animals as they screamed, cackled, cawed, or roared at the commotion going on, destroying many of the restraining bars and cages, releasing them.

"We have to stop this thing!"  Mercury cried out through the din.  "If too many of these animals get loose, there'll be chaos all across the city!"

"Lets get it then!"  Jupiter jumped up, preparing her strongest attack, when a quick shot from the youma sent her flying backwards.

She managed to rise to her elbows when a shadow blocked out the sun.  

She looked up at the youma as it grinned demonically at her.  "You time is up Sailor brat!"  It prepared yet another blast when a red rose suddenly struck it from behind.  It cried out in pain, turning to look for what caused it, giving Jupiter time to seek some distance.

From atop a lightpole stood Tuxedo Mask.  "They say that the creatures in these cages are beasts, but for you to attack innocents for evil purposes, makes you the real beast here!"

"Die!"  The youma cried, shooting the blast at him.  He deftly avoided the attack, yelling, "Now Sailor Moon!"

"Right!  Moooooon Spiral Heart Aaaattack!"  

With a scream of outrage being the last proof that it had been on the planet, the youma was blasted away.

The Scouts and Tuxedo Mask gathered together, happy to have ended yet another crisis.  "That was a hard fight."  Venus proclaimed, whipping her forehead.

"Yes, but we won!  Thanks to Tuxedo Mask."  Mercury said happily.

"Yea well, if you ask me Serena could have been just a little quicker."  Jupiter quipped.

Sailor Moon fumed at that.  "I did my best!"

Tuxedo Mask cut them off before they could get going on another argument.  "We still have these animals to get back in their cages."  He pointed out.

They all looked at him blankly, until a spider monkey climbed up Sailor Moon's leg, causing her to shriek in terror.

Well, they ended one crisis at least…

**_Back at the Tendo Dojo…._**

 "Oh, a foreign exchange student.  That's nice."  Kasumi commented cheerfully as they ate.  "What made you decide to come to Japan?"

"Eh, it was the chance of a lifetime really.  I get to get out of the States, see another culture.  It seemed to happen…overnight."  Tank dove into his noodles to hide the slight smirk at his tongue-in-cheek comment.  "_Mmm…good stuff.  Kasumi's a hell of a cook."_  And he told her as much.

The older girl blushed slightly, "Thank you."  She said.

"You're welcome."  

Nabiki gazed at him over her bowl, the wheels visibly turning.  Tank looked up at her, asking cheerfully, "Is there something on your mind Nabiki?  Maybe you heard something about the program?"  Her eyes widened slightly, managing to cover it by looking down at her bowl saying nonchalantly, "Why would you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know.  It just seemed you had something on your mind is all."  Tank finished off his bowl, and patted his stomach.  "Kasumi, that's the best meal I've had in a good while.  Thank you."

Kasumi again blushed, not used to compliments.  "Thank you, and you're welcome."  She rose to clear the table and to everybody's surprise their guest did the same. 

"Oh you don't have to do that."  Kasumi said, but he waved his hand at the comment.

"Sure I do!"  He said happily.  "I owe you for the meal.  Besides, it's only common curtousy."  The others just gazed at the man as if he had grown three heads.  

"What?  It isn't here?"  He looked back quizzically.

No one responded.  He shrugged, going back to what he was doing.  Both he and Kasumi went into the kitchen, cleaning the dishes and making idle chit-chat while the others did their own thing.  From the living room the TV could be heard, chattering about the news.  Akane and Nabiki was watching it when a breaking news story came across.  

"Hey guys…" Akane called out.  "…there was a breakout of animals at the Zoo."  

Ranma shrugged, not interested.  Tank came out for a moment to watch, while Soun and Tendo continued to play Shogi.

Newscaster: "_So far, Zoo authorities have managed to retrieve most of the escaped animals.  The following animals are still on the loose however, and if you see them, contact the police immediately.  There is a reward for their location, so call it in as soon as you see them."_

He read off a list of animals, most of them small such as monkeys or birds.  The largest animal still at large was an oddity though.  One that should have been picked up almost immediately.

A Panda.

Tank couldn't help but grin a bit, and he beckoned Ranma over.  "Hey man…if you ever wanted to get rid of your father…this is the time."  

Ranma blinked in confusion.  Exasperated, Tank pointed subtly to Genma.  "Make him a Panda and then call it in you tool!  The situation is practically custom made for this."  Tank chuckled slightly.  Ranma seemed taken back though, obviously not that shrewd.  

Finally he responded.  "No way!  He's still my Pops!"  

Sighing, Tank said simply, "Alright, fine.  Can't blame a guy for trying."  Tank chuckled as he went back to helping Kasumi.

Tank sat on the porch, thinking things over from how the day went. 

"_Well, things aren't too bad.  Got a deal for more training from Ranma, managed not to tell him too much that might throw things off for this timeline…overall it's been a good day."_  He rubbed his sore arms, having gone through some more exercises with Ranma not long after he finished helping Kasumi.  

"Heh, I'll give him credit, he knows his stuff."  He muttered aloud, now rubbing the back of his head, almost irritably.  Just then he heard some light footsteps behind him.  He glanced back.  

Seeing it was Nabiki, he automatically tensed up a bit.  She looked coy and shy, but her eyes said something else.

"Excuse me.  Is this spot taken?"  She asked shyly.  He shrugged, scooting over to the side.  She promptly sat down, glancing at him from time to time.  He decided to turn the tables on her.

He leaned in slightly, almost conspiratorily, saying, "Might as well drop the act now sister.  I'm already on to you."  Her eyes widened for a moment, but she held her own.

"And I'm on to you…soldier."  She smiled coyly.  She leaned against a railing, with a cat-ate-the-canary look on her face.

"Oh but not nearly as on to me as you think you are.  How would Ranma or Akane like it if I told them about your little photo habits?"  He shot back.

How he was sitting one second and up close and personal to her face the next, he had no idea, but he had a good clue that he had hit a home run on that one.  "How do you know about that!"  Her voice was low, but it seemed to scream between them.  She held his shirt in her hands, which was the reason why he was up close and personal.  

"You might want to let me go before someone sees you Nabiki."  He said gently, yet he couldn't stop himself from adding, "Besides, we just met.  No need to fall for me so quickly."  He winked.

"You…bastard!"  She let go, but didn't bother to hold her shy act anymore.  It was obvious she was enraged.  

He straightened himself up a bit, continuing, "At least you said it out loud.  Akane just yells it through her eyes.  And as I told her, you can just drop that shit."  

Her jaw dropped from his tone.  No one ever spoke to her like that!

He looked at her, a slight smirk on his face.

"How much do you think it'll cost you to keep me from telling Akane, Ranma, and anyone else I want to about your habits?  All of them?"  

Now she was livid.  "_He's trying to con me!_"  She could see in his eyes though that he would go through with the implied threat.  She had to think fast to get out of the situation.  

That was something she was good at though.  "_When strength doesn't work, try planting self-doubt."_

Her game face back on, she smiled at him, almost inviting.  "Well, that's an interesting statement.  But why would anyone believe you?  A foreigner?"  The game was over in her mind.

But not in his apparently.  "I already have one believer kid.  And he's the most important one."  She winced slightly, realizing he had a point.  _"When self-doubt doesn't work, try threatening back."_

"If you do, I'll just tell everyone here the truth about you."  She cocked her head slightly to see his reaction.

It wasn't quite what she expected.  He laughed.  "And I'll just deny it.  Face it Nabiki, I got you.  You have no proof, and if you did, you'd have to show it, then some very interesting questions about how you came by that proof will come up, quite possibly shutting down your little operation."

"You have no proof either."  She shot back, a little defensively.  She never loses at this game!  Never!

He wagged a finger at her.  "Oh contrare my dear.  Not only do have proof, I know where it can be procured.  And you do too."  He shook his head upwards slightly, still smiling, now superiorly.  He did have her.

"_Shit shit shit!  Damn this guy's good!_"  She had to admit, highly impressed.  It was very rare for anyone to play the game on her level.  In fact, no one she knew could.  Yet this man from another country…another time if he wasn't lying…not only matched her, he beat her at her own game!  It was highly frustrating for her, leaving her angry, shocked, impressed, and damn near in a rage.  She had never been so aroused in a long time.__

The red head looked away from her face while all these emotions shot through her.  "Now I'm not looking for much, just some cash every so often when I come to train."  

She looked up at him, wary.  "How much?"

"How much do you charge Kuno per?"

"1,000 yen."  She threw out.

"Bullshit.  Try higher."  He waved his thumb up at the sky.

She growled slightly, "Ok, 10 to 14,000 yen."

He nodded, satisfied.  "I think it would be fair to say that this information is worth…25,000 every other week."

She blanched.  "No way!  That's extortion!"

"That's the point hot stuff. You do it all the time."  He winked at her, causing her face to flush, partially from anger, but some from desire.  "Do you agree on the price?"

"There's no way I can pay that much.  9,000 yen."

"What do you take me for, a fool?  You make plenty.  I'm flexible though, 20,000 doesn't sound too bad."  She shook her head, throwing back a slightly higher amount from her previous statement.

The negotiations didn't last long, but they did finally come to an agreement of 15,000 yen every other week.  She finally felt that she had taken back some control on the situation, bringing her raging emotions in check.  _"Just in time too…I've never wanted someone that bad before."_  She managed to get up without trouble, although she felt slightly weak, as if she had just run a marathon. "_At least I'll have the photos of him from this."_  She smiled wickedly as she left. 

Tank watched her shapely rear walk away from the corner of his eye, then turned back to the pond with a bigger smile on his face.  "Things have just gotten a hell of a lot better."  Then a thought crossed his mind.

"I wonder how Barsoums' day had gone?"

Barsoum sat in his tent in some pain, dabbing a few cuts with a wet cloth, swearing greatly at his incredible misfortune.

"Mother fuckin….sombitch…god damn that piece of shit…"

His day hadn't been a good one.  It started out great at first, with some meditation on the new power he seemed to have acquired after Tank left to meet this Ranma person.

Unfortunatly….

* * * * *

**_Earlier that day…._**

From above Barsoum he could hear a chattering, and the sound of claws on bark.  He tuned that out as he sat in front of their fire in meditation.  It wasn't often he meditated, not having much cause for it.  But the nature of his new power demanded some serious consideration and thinking.  Not to mention the fact that he was now in another land and time, leaving him highly off center…at least more off center than he usually was anyways.  He needed to find balance again, and meditation was the way to do it.

He could hear the clatter of those claws on a tree limb above him, but he didn't let that ruin his concentration as he channeled his ki within.  He concentrated deeply, feeling his inner spirit flow through him, gaining in strength slowly.  He was in tune with everything within him, and everything around him, hearing everything yet nothing, feeling the wind and heat from the fire, yet not.

He found his balance.  His inner spirit was in harmony with nature around him, and his body.  He could feel the ki of the earth, the fire, the wind...everything interacting with his.  He thought on his new power, and could feel it and everything about it as clearly as if it were on paper before him.  He could sense it's potential within him, it only needed the proper time and training to achieve it.

Sadly, this moment of clarity and calm was about to be shattered quite rudely.

Deep in his trance, he could hear something zipping through the air, and before he could contemplate anything about it, a rather large chestnut nailed him directly on the forehead.  

"Son of a fucking bitch!"  He cried out in pain, holding his poor forehead as he rolled on the leaf covered ground.  "Mother fucker!"  The now enraged and highly unbalanced Egyptian jumped up, certain as to what it was that caused this great pain and agony.  

Sure enough, far above him sat the squirrel, chattering away at him.  It seemed to laugh at him, feeling quite safe.  

"Why don't you come down here and fight like a man you piece of shit!"  He had a hand on the hilt of his katana, showing quite clearly that, while the squirrel should fight like a man, he was going to put end to it quickly.  

The squirrel seemed to shake it's head back and forth negeatively, then ran off elsewhere.

"That little fucker…it's time I did something about'em."  He thought for a moment as to how to go about doing this.  

"I got it!"

Barsoum giggled almost manically as he set his trap.  A pile of sunflower seeds sat in the middle of a small noose, about big enough for a man's foot, which was tied to a sapling.  The sapling was bent over to nearly half it's height, held down in place by a peg, which had a string tied to it to pull it out of the ground.  

"This'll fix'em!"  He muttered almost in glee as he covered the noose and string with leaves, then slunk away to a bush where he could watch, gently holding the string.  

Oddly, nothing happened for nearly an hour.  Barsoum fidgeted, wondering what was taking the squirrel so long, when he felt something poke him from behind.  

"Eh?"  He turned to look first in curiosity, then in shock as there sat his target!  "You!"  He cried, lunging for the creature.  It darted between his legs through the bush, with Barsoum in hot pursuit. 

"I'll get you this time you fucker!  You're going to be a slipper when I'm done with you!"  He put a hand on the hilt of his sword, well within lethal range as his target danced back and forth in a zig-zag patter in an attempt to throw him.  

Just as he was about to pull the sword, the squirrel did one more zig to the left, landing on a small piece of wood, then leaping hard to the right.

"Got you!"  Barsoum cried, pulling the sword out fully and bringing it down hard when a two-hundred an fifty pound Chiefs quarterback tackled a leg, sending him flat on his face, to be replaced by a twenty foot tall giant which pulled him back and up into the air.

"Mother fuckin…." Barsoum cursed loudly, going into Arabic for this occasion as he hung from the very trap he himself had set.  This was a very embarresing moment for him, so the cursing lasted a good thirty minutes before he calmed enough to phase through the rope and land on the ground.   

Defeated, Barsoum headed back towards the encampment when he heard a noise to the right.  Without hesitation he leapt over a bush, surprising his nemesis fully.  It didn't even have time to evade as Barsoum latched on with his free hand, lifting it to his face.

"I got you now you son of a bitch!"  Barsoum laughed, almost evilly for a few minutes as he held the sword tip to the squirrels chin.  It seemed to be in too much shock as it just looked up at him with those slightly screwy eyes.

"Any last words before you become I make you into lunch meat?"  Barsoum grinned widely, immensely proud at his accomplishment.  Won't Tank be so impressed at what he did!  

Apparently, the victim-to-be did have some last words.  Just one really.  It made one very long, high pitched screech before quieting again. 

"Alright, time for you to go bitch!"  Barsoum prepared to impale the squirrel and save the world from its genes when he felt something very big and burly ram him from the side, sending the sword and squirrel flying.

Barsoum rubbed his side in surprise, but that was as far as he got as that big and burly thing tackled him on the ground, growling and biting and nearly crushing him before he phased enough for his body to no longer take any damage.  

He lay there as the thing backed away, apparently satisfied with its work.  He stared in disbelief at what had hit him.

"A fuckin Panda?"  Sure enough, a panda had attacked him, and as it ambled off he could see the squirrel sitting on the pandas' back, laughing once again.

* * * * * * * *

It was now evening, and Barsoum was still in foul spirits.  He looked up at the darked trees, and shook his fist in rage, crying out in an oath first in Arabic, then it's English equivalent.

"This isn't over you son-of-a-bitch!  I'll get you if it's the last thing I do, and your panda too!"

* * * * * * * *

**_Across town…_**

Sailor Mercury stood on her balcony, feeling the night breeze waft across her face.  It had been days since their encounter with the strange soldier from America, and while they had searched hard, they hadn't been able to locate any trace of him.

She sighed.  "I wonder where he is?  What role does he play in our fight with our Enemy?"  She ran a hand through her hair, not getting an answer from the wind.

Their battle today had been hard, but not as hard as others had been.  It wasn't fast though, and it had left a mess that was still being cleared by Zoo people.  

"So many questions.  I wish I knew the answers."  She said, discouraged.  Things had changed too rapidly of late.  Becoming a Scout and fighting monsters that seemed to get stronger over time was bad enough, but now there was this unknown quantity.  Serena, in one of her few clear-headed moments when the leader in her shown, had said he was to be trusted.

Yet…was he?  Ami wasn't sure.  Nor was Lita, that much was certain.  

She sighed again, then went back inside to turn in for the night.  "Maybe the answers will come to us soon.  I hope."

**_To Be Continued….._**

**_Sorry, had to break up this chapter.  Had 33 pages when I was finished, but that's ok, just means there's more chapters for you to read hehehe._**

**_Hope you enjoy them all!_**

**_¤§¤_**

**_RBL_M1A2Tanker_**


	5. Chapter 4: The Deal's off!

**_A Soldier in Tokyo_**

**_Chapter 4:  The Deal is off!_**

Many days passed until Tank returned, and Barsoum didn't tell him about the little 'incident' he had.  Nor of the many others that happened during those many days, each ending with a panda attack.  In the end, the squirrel and Egyptian came to a sort of understanding, which he did tell Tank about.

"Ahh…dude, how the hell do you come up with an understanding with a squirrel?"

"I don't know, we just did.  We respect each other, he's actually pretty tough."  Barsoum said, remembering how he had gotten hold of the critter and slamming it against a tree before it could call for his little 'friend'.  It didn't seem to phase the animal, and the attempt, while commendable, ended like the others: in the jaws of a rather pissed off panda.

Tank simply shook his head in puzzlement, sighing as he did so.  "Whatever you say man.  Just so long as he doesn't fuck with us anymore."

"It won't.  We don't fuck with it, it don't fuck with us."  He was very sure on that, having earned it the hard way.

"Ok, gotcha."  Tank sat on a log, pleased.  Barsoum joined him on another log, asking, "I'll guess that you got with the guy?"

A nod, then, "Yea, I did.  Taught me quite a bit.  Guy's good man, might give you a run for your money."  

"Shiiiit.  I'll take his ass."  Barsoum said confidently.  Tank shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not.  Might have to set up that little fight sometime."

"You do that.  I'll kill'em.  I'll rip his fuckin head off."  Barsoum glared with wild eyes at Tank, who couldn't suppress a laugh.

"Man, you look like someone just shoved a stick up your ass when you do that."  Barsoum couldn't help but break out and laugh his rivet-gun laugh at that.

Calming, he asked, "So, you ready for some more training?" 

Tank smirked, anticipating this.  "Yup.  Let's go!"

A routine developed over the months.  Tank trained with Barsoum most every day, increasing his skill in the martial arts from constant practice and usage.  Two days out of the week he trained with Ranma, acquiring other techniques and ways of fighting.  He blended it all together with his own unique way of fighting, utilizing everything that was useful to him, and discarding what he felt he didn't need.  It didn't favor either style, yet it wasn't superior to either one.  

Neither of his trainers minded this, not discouraged him from it.  A martial artist must find his own way of self-expression in the arts, and his was developing rapidly, and might soon be on the same level as theirs.  

After a particularly grueling session, both Tank and Barsoum decided to take a break for a couple days to relax.  The changes in both men were great.  They had toned up incredibly, being in better shape than they probably ever had been in their lives.  

Barsoum chuckled slightly as he lay back against a limb in their home.  Their 'home' was the giant gnarled tree that Tank had first found himself against on his arrival.  Tank looked at him quizzically.  "What?"

"You man.  I'm just impressed with how much you've improved.  I really have to work now to fight you."  He rubbed his face, feeling the stubble there.  "It's like you're developing some kind of sixth sense."

Tank shrugged.  "Probably because I'm getting used to how you fight."

"Eh, maybe.  But it's weird.  Lately it's like I can't hit you without you picking up on it.  It's like you read my mind or something."  

Tank thought a moment, going back over their fights.  "Hmm…ya know…you might be on to something there.  Well, I'm off to get some stuff.  You wanna go?"

His friend shook his head.  "Nah man, I'm beat.  I want to rest for tomorrow when I meet this Ranma guy.  Besides, they all look at me funny."

"Shit, I look at you funny man."  Tank shot out.  

"That's cause you look funny."  Barsoum fired back, grinning.  Their wits hadn't dulled any during the past few months.

"Touche."  Tank chuckled, then climbed down from the tree, retrieving his pistol from the cubby-hole in the trunk as he left. They had decided on staying in the woods, instead of going to an apartment, due to their very physical activities they had been doing of late, and the fact that they technically didn't exist in this world.

Thanks to the money he got from Nabiki they'd been able to get food and other essentials without a problem.  With a little more arm-twisting on his part, he even got her to give him the location of place where he could get ammunition.  Now he had a full magazine for both his M4 and his M9, which was on his person whenever he left the protection of the woods, with plenty of ammo to spare.  

On top of that, they'd been able to do a little work creating a more secure and permanent place to live in the woods.  The giant tree they had turned into a home was perfect for the job.  The limbs were strong enough for a few boards to be tied down to, letting them place their tents up off the ground.  A few footholds, along with a weapons cubby-hole in the trunk, complete with a lockable camouflaged dropdown panel for access, and they had a first rate living area, safe from prying eyes that might pass by.  

He smiled, "Things are really looking up for us."  He whistled a little tune, which was sounded a lot like the original Mario Brothers game theme song as he got some food and something to read, highly pleased with how life had improved, and praising the good luck he'd had so far at avoiding trouble.

As should be expected though, his run of good luck was going to run out.

Just as he got in the park where his home was, he heard someone cry out behind him, "Monster! Run!"  

"_Shit"_ Tank thought silently, as he turned around, bag in hand.  Sure enough, there was a youma there, complete with evil general (available in stores now), draining life energy from those foolish enough to attempt to flee.  

"Fuck me!"  He cried out as he dropped the bag, diving for cover.  Cover in this case being mailbox, it would have to do.  He pulled out his sidearm, thoughts whirling though his head.  "_Ok, this isn't good.  I only have one clip, and no protection on my head this time.  Need a plan."_  He looked about wildly, as unconscious bodies fell to the ground.  "_Wait a sec…had a deal with these guys.  I don't fuck with them, they won't fuck with me.  Ok, good plan."_  

He could almost hear the voice in the back of his mind point out, "_That's no plan you stupid ass."_  

"Shut up." He muttered aloud.  He glanced out, watching the youma holding a crystal out, draining people left and right.  

"Ooook Sailor Scouts…time for you to do your thing here…"  He said, disgruntled.  It rankled him that to keep from being possibly killed, instead of unconscious like the people around him, he had to keep himself from opening up on the youma.  

Having morals and ethics sometimes was a bitch.

Sure enough though, he could hear a high pitched voice yell out, "I'm Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon…"  He looked over to the left, and there stood the Scouts doing their ridiculous poses.  He just shook his head as they finished, "…we shall punish you!"

"Damn you brats!  Youma, finish them!"  This dark general vanished, leaving his lackey to do the dirty work.  In short order the chaos of battle filled the air as both Scouts and youma fought, neither side seeming to have the advantage.  

Tank stayed under cover for the time being, watching the fight unfold.  He winced as he watched the girls fight.  "Good lord…these people are horrible!  How the hell do they expect to win?  No real teamwork, and only one of them with any real fighting ability.  Damn, the guys before this fucker must have really been weak!"  He felt an urge to leave cover, and did so, jumping clear of the box just before it was blasted by a near miss by the youma.  

He rolled to the side, looking for cover anywhere he could.  He dove behind a park bench, as if its slat-sides were going to provide any real protection.  "Gotta find something better!"  He ground out, looking for something more substantial.

From her spot behind cover, Sailor Mercury saw the mailbox get blasted, and a familier figure dash for cover, first behind a park bench, then behind a concrete water fountain.  She started in surprise at seeing him of all people.  Mars looked over at her, a question on her face.

She pointed, "It's him!  It's that Sergeant!"  Mars looked, also started.  

"Him?  What's he doing here?"  She asked, then dove to the side to avoid a punch from the creature, sending a firerey blast back at it.  It didn't phase it.

"No time to worry about him.  He can take care of himself!  Sailor Venus, look out!"  

The warning came too late, and Venus took to the air from another hard punch, landing painfully not far from where Tank squatted.  For good measure, the beast fired a dark blast at Venus, driving her into the ground, smoke rising.

"Shit!"  He yelled as he dove towards her body.  The other Scouts continued the attack while he checked her vitals.  "Ok, good, she's alive, just out."  He looked her over for any obvious wounds, but didn't see anything, just as he felt a familiar presence behind him.  

He looked up and said cheerfully, "Heya buddy.  Fun day eh?"  Barsoum just chuckled at him as he also looked the teen over.

"Damn…you didn't say they were this fine dude!"  He exclaimed.

"Oh shut up dick.  This isn't the time for that.  Help me get her up.  Translator on."  He switched to Japanese as he tapped her none-too-gently on the cheek.  "Wake up Sailor Venus, you got some ass to kick."  

Barsoum also tapped her cheek a couple times, and then said, "Fuck that."  Can flat out slapped her hard.  Her eyes fluttered as she came too, his buddy grinning, "Works everytime."

Tank rolled his eyes as she regained consciousness.  "Wha…what happened?"  

"No time.  Bad guy, that way, go get."  He pointed, where the others had yet to subdue the creature.  

Her eyes recognized the scene, and with a final, "Right!" she was off to join the fray, leaving the two friends to take cover again.

"Translator off."  Tank turned to his buddy, "What brought you out man?"

A blast singed the air between them, making them duck from the debris that flew in the opposite direction.  Barsoum pointed to the smoking crater, "That shit.  One minute I'm napping, next I see some tree get blasted!  Man they make a lot of noise!  I was having a good dream too."  He grumbled about the last.

"This isn't working!"  Jupiter yelled, just before she took a hard punch to her gut, knocking the wind out of her.  

"Jupiter!"  Moon cried out, just before being sent flying by an energy blast.  When she managed to refocus her vision, the youma stood over her, grinning and preparing killing blow.  Just that moment a red rose cut across it's body, forcing it to clutch itself as it looked at the source.

In typical fashion, Tuxedo Mask stood on a light pole perfectly, calling out, "You are a fool to try to kill what is un-killable.  Love and beauty cannot be destroyed.  Finish it Sailor Moon!"

From cover Barsoum looked over at Tank as he translated for him, then looked on in disbelief.  "That all that fucker said?  What kinda pussy is he?"  Tank shrugged, at a loss as Sailor Moon used her strongest attack, knocking the creature down to the ground, smoking.  

"I think they got'em man."  Tank said, and stood up from cover, his buddy following suit.  They walked over to the Scouts who had clustered together, wary.  

"This is unusual…it should have vanished."  Mercury commented, gazing at the monster.  Before anyone could comment, the heard someone speak in slightly accented English behind them.

"Damn man.  That's one ugly fucker."

"Yea, no shit."  

Mercury flushed, being the only one to understand the two as the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask turned their gaze on them.  

"Translator on.  Heya."  Tank said cheerfully, pistol still in his hand.  His friend had a sword on his back, and he looked over the girls, obviously having never seen them before.

"Hello Sergeant.  Who's your friend?"  Mercury asked.

"Him?  He's an Army buddy.  Same problem as me."  Leaving it at that, he pointed to the creature, "Shouldn't that have vanished?"

"Well…yes.  We were just wondering about that."  She answered, just as the youma suddenly lunged upwards, firing a blast straight out.

"Look out!"  Tuxedo Mask cried, and the Scouts dodged or dove away faster than the blast.  

"Oh fuck me!"  Both men yelled as Barsoum allowed himself to phase out.  Unfortunatly for him, Tank took the full brunt of the blast, flying backwards several feet and landing hard, smoking slightly.  

He cringed in pain, skittering a bit as the evil energy played havoc with his nervous system before he got full use of it again.  "Ok…that's it.  Deals off bitch!"  He ground out as he stood back up, very pissed.

He turned to Barsoum, who looked on in astonishment.  "You alright man?"  

Tank waved it off, yelling, "I'm fine, let's get this fucker!"  Barsoum grinned as he phased back in, pulling the katana from its scabbord with a twirl, taking up a stance and holding it point down.  Tank turned to the Scouts, yelling to the (in essence ordering), "Stay back, this fucker's ours!"  

They looked at him in shock as he picked up his pistol and took up a stance beside his bud.  

"Is he insane?" Tuxedo Mask asked Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon had no answer.  

Mercury replayed the scene over in her mind a moment, thinking on what just happened.  "He spoke English one moment…then Japanese the next without changing the translator…how did that happen?"

She obviously had other priorities on her mind.

Tank glanced at the Egyptian.  "Whaddya think?  Anything special or should we just run it over?"

"I don't give a fuck!  I just wanna finally kill something!"  Barsoum laughed, yet focused. 

"Alright then.  Let's go!"  Tank charged in, with Barsoum following, sword behind him.  

The youma, in great pain and a little dizzy, could never have imagined a more incredible sight than a crazed Egyptian leaping up at it's head, and some nutty red-head diving and firing some noisy thing.  And the things that one shot hurt like hell! 

It roared in pain, just as Barsoum impaled its mouth with the katana.  He landed on its shoulders and pulled the blade back out, flipping backwards to avoid a wild strike.  Tank gave it a vicious side-kick into its solar plexus doubling it over.  With great skill Barsoum brought the sharp blade down and lopped off an arm, then quickly rushed behind it as Tank fired two shots, one to each eye, really pissing it off, but blinding it nonetheless.  

He grinned. "I think we got this piece of shit man."  

Barsoum held the sword above his shoulder, the tip pointed at the sky.  "Let's finish the bitch then!"  

"I'm on it!"  Tank dropped the pistol and leapt up, catching the now flailing creature under the jaw and flipping over slowly, bending the big monster almost in half.  At that moment Barsoum used all his strength as he sliced directly at the bend point, cutting the thing in two.  Tank let go as he felt the piece he was holding suddenly start to drop, landing on his feet and facing it.

The pieces kicked about for a bit, while the two soldiers watched wary until they stopped and finally vanished, leaving the energy crystal behind.

The two buddies turned to each other and clapped their hands together, slid apart, then punched down and up in their own little victory celebration.

"Good shit man."  Tank said, retrieving his pistol.  He felt like hell, but having been a victor took some of the sting away.  

Barsoum, for his part, was too busy grinning like a madman.  "Finally!  I got to kill something!"  He burst out laughing, and Tank couldn't help but laugh with him.  

From the sidelines, the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask could only look in fascination.  

"Wow…he's better than last time."  Venus muttered, in surprise.  

Jupiter opened and closed her mouth a couple times before she found her voice.  "How…did they do that?"

Moon simply said, "I was going to do that."  Everyone looked at her darkly, with Mars saying, "Yea right."

Moon pouted, "Well I would have."

Mercury walked up to the victors who were still jabbering away.  "What gave you the idea to jump it and flip it like that man?"

Tank shrugged, "I saw it in an anime Street Fighter movie."  His friend laughed hard.  "Hey, it worked didn't it?"

"Well yea, but you didn't have to do that, I could have cut it either way."  Barsoum laughed harder as his buddy scowled at him.

"Well why the fuck didn't you tell me you had a plan?"  

"I didn't think about it till after you jumped."  Barsoum laughed even harder now, holding his sides as Tank clapped himself on the forehead.

"Um…excuse me Sergeant."  Mercury said, getting their attention, although Barsoum took a little while to get his laughter under control.

"Yea?  What is it Mercury?"  Tank said, again in flawless Japanese, before turning to Barsoum and whispering in English, "Will you zip it for a sec man?"

"Sure-sure man…bwahahahaha!"  He couldn't stop himself, and fell to the ground.  Tank just hung his head, shaking it, before turning back to the confused Scout.  "What's up?"

Mercury turned her attention to the task at hand.  "Well, it's your translator."

"What about it?"  He asked, curious now.

"It seems to be malfunctioning."  

Tank became serious, asking, "What do you mean?  I'm talking to you just fine aren't I?"

"Yes.  And you talk to your friend just fine too.  One problem though…"  It hit Tank before she could say it.

"I haven't told it to shut off or turn on…" Mercury nodded.

Tank thought a moment, feeling his throat and not feeling any pain or discomfort.  "Well, it seems ok.  Guess I've been saved a little time then."

"Possibly."  She replied, still slightly worried.  

He noticed the concern and tried to ease her mind.  "Don't fret about it.  It's better this way probably."  

He turned to his now calm friend.  "Well man, whaddya think?  Time to end the day?"

"Fuck yea man.  Two workouts a day is a bit too much.  Good thing this was easy."  Tank nodded while Mercury nearly dropped her jaw at the comment.

Turing back to her, he said, "Well, it's been fun, but we've got things to do tomorrow, so I guess we'll see each other."

The both made a move to leave when Mercury said, "Wait!  Please."  She added the last almost absently.

They both turned to her, puzzled.  "You fought with us again.  Why?  I thought you didn't want to become involved."

Tank chuckled darkly.  "Tell you what, you meet us here tomorrow morning, and I'll explain things to you.  You'll have to follow us though, we've got a schedule to keep and it'll be a bit tight."

She nodded, determined to find some answers.  "I'll be here."

"Good.  Good night ladies."  He bowed slightly while Barsoum looked at him strangely.  As they walked off, she overheard the darker man ask, "What did ya tell'em?"  

Tank filled him in, and then he said, "Oh.  Ok.  Hey, can ya tell'em that that dude is a fucking pussy or something?  Who the hell fights with flowers in a tuxedo?"

She flushed, knowing exactly who the 'dude' was as she heard Tank groan.  "Man…Mercury there knows English.  You probably just told'em yourself.  Shit."  

"Ooh…oops.  My bad man."  He broke out into laughter again as they both entered the woods.

Suddenly she was surrounded by the others and bombarded with questions.  She sighed.

It was going to be a long night until tomorrow morning.

**_To Be Continued…_**

****


	6. Chapter 5: Crossover, and Discovery

**_*Authors Note:_** Just so you know, I'm crossing this over with one of my other stories here at FFN, called DragonballZ Meets Ranma ½. I recommend you read that before you read this, if just to understand what's going on, and what will be coming along. Kinda a new idea, figured it would be neat and interesting to try. Hope I don't loose too many of you!

Edit: Corrected some things that I didn't like about this chapter. Works much better now.

Enjoy!  
**¤§¤  
RBL_M1A2Tanker**

**_A Soldier in Tokyo._**

**_Chapter 5: Crossover, and Discovery_**

**_Next morning……_**   
"Damn fine morning man." Tank muttered.   
Barsoum nodded, somewhat indifferent as they waited for the Scout to arrive. "Yea…not as fine as she was though." Tank rolled his eyes.   
"Oh enough already man!"   
"Look, nothing wrong in looking now."   
"Heh, I tell myself that every time I go to Ranma's."   
"Really? The girls there are hot?"   
"Damn fine man. Just watch it ok? Nabiki will con you out of everything you own if she can swing it. Kasumi is the more…housewife type I guess. Akane…" Tank shook his head.   
Barsoum whistled slightly. "Shit…how's a guy going to get some around here then?"  
"Simple. You don't."   
"Oh fuck that!"  
"Hey, you did just fine in the barracks."   
"We had leave every so often man!"   
"So?"  
"So I got to release some steam! That's all I'm saying man." Tank shook his head.  
"Look, just don't mess with any of the Scouts or the Tendos. Don't need to mess up their timelines anymore than we have to."  
Barsoum rolled his eyes as he replied, "Whatever dude."   
"Just tell me you won't ok?"  
"Yea yea. I won't. Everyone else is fair game though." He looked at Tank pointedly.  
Tank raised his hands in surrender, "Alright, fair enough."  
"Awesome!" Barsoum broke out into a grin, then remembered something. "Oh, by-the-way man, did you figure out what that tube thing was?"

"Eh…I think so." Barsoum was referring to a long metal cylinder he'd found in the remains of the tree that had been destroyed by the youma. He didn't take the time to fiddle with it then, so he just locked it up for later. When they got back he showed it to Tank, who seemed to pale at the time.

"Ok, what is it." Barsoum asked, arms crossed.  
"I really don't want to get into it now man." He replied, looking at the cylinder that he had attached to his belt, still quesy about it. _ "How do I tell him it might just be a damn lightsaber?"_  
"Well did you mess with it? Looks like there's a button or something there…" Tank nearly seemed to snap at him, shocking him slightly.  
"Not now dammit! I'll fool with it later, but now is not the time."   
"Well shit man, I was just asking. Fucking asshole." Barsoum said, with some heat.  
Tank sighed, calming a bit before he replied. "Sorry man. It's just that I'm pretty sure what it is, but I'm not ready to find out for myself just yet. We have time to find out later."   
"Alright. Why didn't you say so, you didn't have to bite my head off." Barsoum scowled a bit.  
"I said I'm sorry. It was my bad. I'm just a little keyed up, you know. Having you and Ranma meet and all." It sounded good enough to Tank.  
Barsoum shrugged his acceptance, saying, "It's cool." as a short girl in a dress approached, effectively ending the conversation.   
Tank smiled, and then chuckled slightly before calling out, "Morning Ami."

The shy girl bowed slightly. "Good Morning Sergeant." 

"Before we go, do you think you could hook up Barsoum here with the same translator you gave me?" She smiled in response.

"I thought of that, and came ready." She held out the small pill-shaped items.

"Great! Thank you." He took them, greatly appreciative, turning to his buddy.   
"Hey man, here's the translator." He held them out to the now ecstatic Egyptian.  
"Oh great! Ok, so which is which?" He held the stuff, listening to Tank's instructions before popping the pill and plugging the earpieces in. He tested it a few times and when it was proven that it worked, the three started walking.  


After they walked a distance and the novelty of the translator for Barsoum wore off a bit, Amy asked, "So where are we going?"  
"Nerima. Going to meet another martial artist for some extra training." Amy looked up at the red-head in some surprise.  
"You've been training in the marital arts?"  
"Yup." He said, with some pride. "Going on a few months now."   
"A few…months? You're this god after only a few months?" She said, incredulous.  
He shrugged. "Ma always said I was a fast learner." His friend snorted.   
"No shi…er…kidding." He corrected himself in mid-sentence, still getting used to the translator. Amy had to giggle a bit at him.  
"What?" He said, grinning slightly. "I'm not used to being around a chick lately. Give a guy a break." He laughed.  
"Hehe, I know man. I was there not long ago." Tank said, smiling slightly in memory.  


Amy turned back to the subject at hand. "So why are you training so hard?"  
Tank looked at her for the first time since they started walking. "That goes hand-in-hand to your question from last night actually." And he started to explain. The deal he had with Zocite, his conclusions about that night, his wish for his buddy, the granting of that wish, his meeting Ranma and the ongoing training he had with him and Barsoum. 

By the time he finished the story, they were coming up on their destination. 

"Well, now you know the reason. I didn't want to be involved, but I became involved when that thing hit me last night. I didn't break the deal, they did."  
"But…it wasn't aiming for you specifically…" She replied, but Tank interrupted.  
"Doesn't matter if it was on purpose or not. It still hit. The deal was that I wouldn't attack them, they wouldn't attack me, and I was hit. Deal off." Tank said sternly, with Barsoum nodding in agreement.  
She lowered her eyes, looking over the logic in it, and finding that it did make sense in a way.

She was about to ask something else when he stopped short. The other two looked at him quizzically.  
"Yo, what's wrong dude?" Barsoum asked, combat senses alert.  
"Well…unless they've been having a frat party, it's not normal for there to be a body in front of the place." He answered, pointing. 

Sure enough, there was a body lying on the sidewalk leading to the house. It was a man dressed in a pinkish gi, with brown sparring gloves on his hands, and bare feet. His hair was tied back into a ponytail, and he wore a black shirt under the gi. There was one other feature about him of interest…

He was out cold.

The three quickly walked up to him to see what was wrong, when they came up short again. In the yard was another person, although only his handkerchief covered head was all that poked out of the ground. He was also out like a light.

Barsoum gazed in wonder at his buddy, asking, "Damn dude…what kinda training you been getting here? You should have brought me sooner!"   
Tank shook his head. "Sure as hell isn't anything we ever did together man."  
He looked at the brown-haired man before them, and turned him over to get a look at his face, on a hunch.   
It turned out correct. "Damn." He muttered.   
"What?" The other two asked.  
"This here is a Street Fighter called Dan Hibiki."   
"A Street Fighter?" Amy asked, while Barsoum just got this wary look on his face.  
"You don't mean…" Tank cut him off.  
"Yup. The game." Was all he said. Barsoum grumbled incoherently, while Amy looked at the two of them in obvious confusion.  
Tank stood back up, saying wearily, "Well, doesn't matter now. He's out, and looks like he will be for some time. Let's go meet Ranma. Maybe he can tell us what kinda party he had, heh." He chuckled as he led them into the yard.   
"Well just go around the side, they're probably in the back anyways."  
"Do you always go into their place this way?" Amy asked.  
"Heh, compared to how others come here, this is pretty tame in comparison. Trust me." Both Barsoum and Amy glanced at each other and shrugged, following.  


They went around to the right, and were about to turn a corner when they heard a voice cry out loudly, "I am the master of the Kuno family, Champion Kendoist of the Furikan High Kendo Club. I am…" there was a dramatic pause, followed by, "…the Blue Thunder of Furikan High!" A bolt of lighting flashes, even though there isn't a cloud in the sky. Barsoum and Amy start, looking about the sky looking for the source of the lighting. Then they hear…

"Now, knave, answer me! Or fear the might of my wrath." 

Barsoum looked at tank, in more puzzlement than anger. "Just what the fuck is going on?" Tank held up his hands in surrender, "You're asking me? I was with you when we got here!"  
Then a younger voice spoke up before anymore questions could be asked.

"I'm Trunks Briefs, son of Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, and Bulma Briefs, President of Capsule Corporation."   
Barsoum nearly shouted as he said, "I knew it! I knew this would end up being the tootie fruitie, pepperoni and fettchini show!"  
"Quiet!" Tank barked, as he snuck around to see and confirm their suspicions. The voice continued…  
"I am a lot stronger than you, and if you stick that thing in my face again, I'll prove it." 

> 

"So, you challenge the Blue Thunder? Very well, I shall set aside my duel with the demon Saotome, and accept your challenge. En Gaurde!"   
At that moment Tank walked around the last corner of the house, and saw the most astonishing sight he'd ever seen, which was quite impressive considering what he'd gone through and seen of late.

Standing before him was the just proclaimed Blue Thunder, facing off with a young lad of maybe just a little over ten, maybe twelve with lavender hair and dressed in pants and a black T-shirt, with a sword strapped to his back. Near the pond stood a groaning Akane (who looked a little different, but Tank couldn't place it at the moment), and Ranma. And next to him was…

"Holy shit!" He exclaimed in English. His mind was boggled. _ "How the fuck is this possible? How can DragonBall Z characters be here?"_ He stood dumbstruck as a very familier looking man about his height with black hair shocks pointing everywhere, dressed in an orange gi with blue undershirt on sat on his rear, looking for the source of lighting.

Barsoum and Amy walked up to him, and Barsoum nearly did a double take himself. "Holy fuck!" He swore a few times in Arabic for good measure, not believing the situation either.

At the moment the new arrivals went unnoticed as Kuno and Trunks faced off. Kuno held his bokken in a ready position before him, while Trunks merely had his arms crossed, a superior smirk on his face.

"Come now. You have been challenged. Do you not draw your blade in preparation for battle?" Kuno taunted.

His smirk a little wider, Trunks replied, "Oh I'll draw it soon enough you overblown windbag."

"You dare to insult the great Takewaki Kuno? You shall feel my vengence fully for this!" With that Kuno charged, his wooden blade seeming to he a hundred at once, blurring at the high speed he swung. 

From the side Barsoum let out a whistle. "Damn…he's good." Tank shushed him, enthralled.

The sound of wood on metal reverberated throughout the dojo as Trunks deftly pulled his sword and blocked with the flat of his blade. With one hand on the hilt and the other on the opposite flat side Trunks deflected the bokken away to the side.

As suddenly as he attacked, he pulled back, nodding in silent admiration. "I must say I'm impressed. No one has withstood my prowess with a blade before." Ranma and Akane both rose eyebrows at this, while Trunks just smirked, holding the blade flat side out.

"And you used the flat of your blade too. Your skill is indeed admirable. But mine shall triumph! Yatayatayata!" Again Kuno attacked, hundreds of blades again, all blocked again. The smirk on Trunks face never faded the whole time. 

"Fight me knave! I shall vanquish you for the honor of Akane Tendo!"   
Tank rolled his eyes as he mumbled, "Oh please. This guy is such an idiot."  
Barsoum nodded, saying wrying, "No shit." Amy just looked on in awestruck silence. 

Apparently, Trunks had the same idea. "You just don't get it do you?"   
Kuno pulled back, bokken at the ready as he said dumbly, "Eh? What's that? You speak in riddles?" Most everyone in the area slapped a hand to their face in frustration while Trunks responded.   
"You idiot! I'm blocking everything you throw at me, how much more proof that you need that you can't beat me?" He held the sword in the same postion as before, although held high in response to the last slice before Kuno backed away. From the side Ranma muttered under his breath, "A lot more than that I'm afraid."

"You cower in fear of my prowess! That is why you cannot strike!" He laughed loudly, his eyes seeming to take on an insane look as Trunks looked at him dumbly. 

"You're such a fool Kuno." Tank shook his head. "Well, was nice knowing you." He figured that maybe if Trunks killed him, maybe the world would be saved of his stupidity. One can hope anyways. 

Once again, Trunks seemed to be following the same track as the red-head. "You are so stupid! What do I have to do? Kill you before you get the picture?" Kuno shook his head mightly.

"Your skill is great, yet in the face of campion such as I. Nay, you cannot possibly kill me!"

"Wanna bet?" With that Trunks changed his grip on the blade from being pointed with the point down and flat side out, to the point up and the flat in. He came made a small jump, covering the distance between the two fighters, blades whirling quickly. A sheen of sweat could be seen on the kendoists face as he discovered that he'd vastly underestimated his opponent, barely able to parry the strikes in time. 

"I see you were holding out on me. Fear not my tigress! I shall defeat this fool!" The words sounded hollow though as he continued to step back, slowly backing up nearby where Tank and his companions stood. It was then that the others noticed them, but they didn't say anything, since it seemed Trunks had everything under control.

_"Tank? What's he doing…oh yea!"_ Ranma reminded himself that he had training to do with the red-headed out-of-place soldier, and a match with his partner. He berated himself mentally for forgetting that today was the day they'd planned on it when Trunks spoke up, breaking up his thoughts.

"Heh, that's what you think. I'm still holding out on you. And now, it's time to end this." With that, Trunks slipped his blade into his scabbard, and side-kicked Kuno the rest of the way to the concrete wall, leaving a Kuno-sized imprint in it. He brushed his hands off, saying, "Well, that's that." He started to walk away, when he heard a weak voice.

"Nay…you…have not…bested me!" He turned around, and saw that the man had managed to pull himself out of the wall and take up a stance again. Kuno charged, going to power where skill and technique had failed, slicing hard at the point where Trunks' neck and head joined. Trunks ducked, and the blade missed easily. 

For his troubles, he was punched this time back into the wall. Trunks shook his head, and turned away, only to hear….

"Face me you coward! You cannot defeat…the mighty Blue Thunder!" A crash of thunder fills the air, causing Goku to launch himself into the sky and see if he could figure out where the source of thunder was coming from. Trunks turned back once again, this time incredulous. 

"Man! What does it take to get through your head?" The young lad charged his opponent, sending him to the wall a third, and he hoped, final time. He waited a couple minutes as Kuno seemed to stare back blankly.

"Sheesh. He's hard-headed." Trunks muttered, then turned away and started to take a step when he heard….

"Nay…the Blue…Thunder," Yet another crash of thunder, "…is…not…beaten!" Goku landed, scratching his head madly, having been unable to find the source of the strange thunder. Kuno was battered and bruised, holding the bokken almost limply, yet once again out of the wall and standing…sorta tall. He gazed almost blankly at his opponent. Or was it opponents now? _"Do my eyes deceive me? There are three of them now! Surely he believes that numbers will finish me where skill did not!"_ Kuno analyized, quite incorrectly.

"This shall finish all three of you!" He cried, although he really couldn't see his target anymore, even as he brought back the blade and swung with all his might.

Would have been one hell of a blow too, if it had hit. However, his aim was so far off, he didn't notice that Trunks was a good five feet further away than his blade could reach. However, Tank and his companions weren't.

"Down!" He yelled, diving for the dirt while his friend tackled the girl. The blade just barely missed, and Kuno spun around once before he got his footing back, wobbling slightly. 

Tank was angry now. He stood up, yelling tersly, "You stupid ass! You nearly hit three non-combatants! What kind of honorable fighter do you believe yourself to be?"

The slightly out of it Kuno turned in the direction of the voice, not recognizing it off the bat, and retorted, "This is none of your concern. Now be gone with you, I shall deal with you after I have finished my opponent. My prowess cannot go unchallenged!" 

Furious, Tank stomped towards the fool, fists clenching and unclenching, muttering rapidly, "I'm going to kill him. I'm really going to kill him. This man must die. He mustn't be allowed to taint the gene pool in anyway shape or form." He muttered many other things, many of them that would curl the hair of a grizzled sailor as he closed in on the man who now was possibly as good as dead. He could hear some other voices from outside his vision, but he was locked on Kuno. 

Alarmed, Ranma started to charge forward to stop him when he saw Tanks male companion shake his head emphatically. He almost looked afraid. Or maybe it was more anticipation for what was going to happen? Beside him Goku saw the look as well, but was going to put a stop to it anyways, when Kuno, still a bit punch drunk, saw the looming presence approach and swung at it. Trunks saw the swing starting and had just stepped off into his leap when Tank responded.

No one, that is, no one but the Siayans, were quite certain afterwards just what happened next. They didn't tell either as they were watching what happened.

Things seemed to slow down at that moment in time. In a smooth, fluid motion, Tank ducked below the rushing blade, feeling the breeze pass just over him as the blade barely clipped his hair. As deftly and as naturally as if he'd been doing it all his life, he pulled the cylinder off his belt and pressed the small plate on it, and a blue-white blade ignited from the tip with a snap-hiss, slicing the bokken neatly in half before Kuno had finished his swing. 

Tank, still lowered, pushed off the ground, leapt over the Kendoist, and did a spinning roundhouse kick into his kidneys, sending him into the wall yet again. Kuno hit so hard that he actually bounced off, allowing Trunks to have a cushiony airbag when he arrived a moment later, sending Kuno back into the wall a final time.

The rest of the wooden blade finally fell the ground.

Time sped back up, as Tank glared at the highly imbedded and quite out cold Blue Thunder, breathing deeply, trying to cool down. His muscles in his back and arms were knots of steel, and refused to yield at first, and then slowly they finally uncoiled, as his temper started to abate. The lightsaber in his hands hummed away, forgotten for the moment.

Ranma, Ryoga and Akane were surprised. "How…he…wha…" That was all their minds could process at the moment. They'd trained with the older man before, but he'd never done anything like that. Tank was a relative newcomer to the martial arts world, and while he was catching on quickly in skill and ability, what he'd done was a lot more than was expected of him. _"That was almost as quick as me."_ Ranma thought to himself, wondering how the older man had improved so much in only a couple days.

Nabiki, camera clicking away, was smiling deviously._ "I'm making a killing today!"_ Was her thought…well, besides the obvious Yen signs and how many of them she'd get off of the sound thrashing Kuno had received today.

Kasumi numbly said, "Oh…my." And she went back inside. 

Cologne, Goku, Trunks and Goten just looked at the redhead, whose eyes were still flashing slightly as he cooled off. 

Cologne looked at him with narrowed eyes. _"Hmmm, such skill in one so obviously new to the Arts is rare. And that weapon…in all my long years I have never seen such a thing."_ She came to a conclusion. _"I must be watchful of him. I should have been paying more attention as he and Son-in-Law trained, but it's too late for that now. He could be a threat._"

_"Wow…that was neat!" _Goten thought excitedly. _"I've never seen a light sword before. I wonder if he'll let me try it?" _He looked at the man for a moment, but then sighed heavily, _"No, not right now. He doesn't seem too happy. Maybe later."_ He brightened up a bit at that.

Tank finally seemed to notice their stares, and gazed back. Some of them turned away, so intense was his gaze. He waited a couple moments till he trusted his ability to speak, shutting down the saber as he waited. "Sorry everyone. I just can't stand a arrogance, or stupid stuff." Some of the others thought a moment, then decided to go along with it. 

"Excuse me buddy…but I have to cool off a sec. I'll be right back." Tank tossed to his friend, and then jumped up and over the wall to… 'cool-off'. 

******************

A good distance away from the place, Tank finally felt collected enough to be around others. But he didn't go back just yet. He wanted to let things cool down there a moment before he went further. Plus…

He pulled the cylinder from his belt, almost looking at it sadly. "Now I know what you are. Dammit…why does my life have to be so suck so badly. I don't need this shit."

The cylinder…no…lightsaber didn't give an answer. Frustrated, he put it back on his belt, heading back for the Tendo Dojo. 

Hidden not far away, a pair of sad, green eyes watched him go. "In time, you'll have answers." The feminine sounding voice murmured.

**_To Be continued……..  
  
Hmmm….wonder who that might be? Should I tell? **thinks a sec** Naaaah…can't tell what I don't know now can I?  
  
Tee Hee! ^_^_**

¤§¤  
RBL_M1A2Tanker

Aka "Tank"   



	7. Chapter 6: Ranma VS Barsoum

**__**

A Soldier in Tokyo

Chapter 6: Ranma VS. Barsoum

**_At the Dojo…_**

Silence filled the area as everyone processed what happened. Finally, Goku asked, "Ahh…shouldn't we do something about him?" He pointed to the still imbedded Kuno.

That snapped everyone out of their thoughts as Akane and Ranma, along with Tanks friends went over and pulled the Broken Black and Blue Thunder of Furikan High out of the wall. Ranma turned to the guy, picking up that he was strong, and asked, "Who are you?"

The other man looked up from checking Kunos' injuries and stared blankly, as if remembering what he was there for, before replying, "I'm Barsoum. Who're you?" 

"Ranma Saotome." Barsoums' face broke out in a grin. 

"Oh yea? You're the guy who's been training Tank?" Barsoum finished checking Kuno over, while Cologne bounced over to poke and prod here and there.

Ranma nodded as he replied, "Yup. You're his sparring partner?" A nod. 

Cologne finished up, saying, "This is all that we can do for him. He'll be fine in a few days, but for now he'll have to let his body rest." 

The others nodded, when Goku walked up to them. Bending down, he gently picked up the beaten seventeen year old and brought him inside to lay him on the futon. 

Outside Ranma and Barsoum were looking each other over, sizing their opponent up when a shadow leapt over the wall. They glanced up and saw Tank just before he landed, much calmer than before. 

"Hey man…where'd you go?" Barsoum asked, while Ranma said, somewhat wryly, "What did you do?"

"Don't know, and nothing, on both counts." He answered as he walked up to them. He looked at Akane, noticing the still slightly blondish bangs and cocked his head. "What's with the hair?" He asked.

Akane sighed, "It's a long story."

"Only gets shorter by telling it." Tank retorted. 

"The same could go for you you know." Ranma shot back. 

"Whaddya mean?" Tank blinked, confused. Barsoum answered before Ranma could.

"I think he means whatcha just did dude." Ranma frowned a bit, but nodded.

Tank sighed himself, and stepped over to the porch to sit. "No long story there. I just don't know. It was like…instinct at work. Before I had thought to do something, I'd done it." He looked up, shrugging, genuenly at a loss. Cologne sat perched on her cane, staring down with her piercing stare while Ranma and Barsoum both probed.

While they were talking, Akane walked over to the nearly forgotten young woman, and asked, "And who're you? Are you a friend of his?"

The girl turned to Akane, thinking a moment. "Well…yes and no. I really don't know him that well, we just met a short while ago." Akane laughed a short laugh. 

"Yea, me too. What's your name?"   
"Ami Mizuno."   
"Akane Tendo. Pleased to meet you."   
"Likewise." They smiled at each other when Tank called to them.   
"Hey Ami? You don't have to stay if you don't want to." 

Before she could respond, Akane interjected, "Why not? This is our place, not yours after all." She really didn't get along too well with the man, but that was natural. She didn't get along with men in general, so he took it in stride, more-or-less.

Tank sighed, "I could be a real pain here, but I've done that already to Kuno. Not that he didn't deserve it, but still." Most of the Nerima residents couldn't find any argument to that. "Point is, you're correct, yet I was allowed to bring one other person with me. A little rude of me to bring more people when they weren't expected, don't you think?"

Akane pondered that, finding that he had a point of his own. She decided to ignore it though. "Well, she's here now isn't she?"

Ami, stuck on the sidelines, finally managed to jump in before a full-blown argument ensued. "That's ok. I only followed here to talk over some things with him." She turned to the still seated ex-soldier. "If you don't mind, I'd like to meet you in a couple days, at the usual place, if that's ok with you?"

Tank thought, and then nodded. "Works for me. I'll see you then."  
"Right." Ami smiled amicably, bowed to everyone else, and made her exit. 

Goku came out from inside, with Kasumi in tow, saying, "He'll be asleep for a good long time I think." To his surprise Tank stood and bowed slightly to him. 

"Ahh…thanks, but you didn't have to bow to me." He said, chuckling a bit as he scratched his head.

"Actually, I was bowing to Kasumi. My apologies for earlier." Tank covered for his little lapse easily enough. Kasumi blushed a bit, saying, "That's quite alright."

Barsoum wrapped an arm around his companion, saying, "Would you excuse us a sec?" He yanked Tank away before anyone could answer.

************************* 

"What was that about? I thought you said we couldn't hit on the Tendos?" Barsoum hissed. "You trying to keep them all for yourself or something?" 

Tank frowned, but didn't struggle out of the grip. "No man! I goofed, and bowed to Goku when I wasn't thinking. You think I'm crazy?"

"Yes. Especially after what you did earlier. And when are you ever thinking?" 

Tank grimaced, "Look, I really don't know what happened there!" 

"Why didn't you tell me that was a God da-.." Tank interrupted with a harsh, "Not now man! Right now we have a match and some training to do! And with DBZ folks here, we better get what we can!"

Barsoum sighed, letting go in acceptance. "Alright. But don't pull that again alright? Kinda scared me a bit."

Tank looked at him in surprise. "You? Scared? Yea right. You're the one who was chasing a squirrel after all."

Barsoum grinned slightly, "Ok, so I wasn't. But the squirrel thing was just crazy, not scary anyways."

Tank pondered, and then conceded the point as they went back to the others.

****************************

"So who's that guy?" Goku asked as the two were speaking in hushed tones.

"He's a foreign exchange student from America. He comes here to train every couple days. I'd forgotten that today was the day we'd train." Ranma answered. 

"Oh, that's great. He's not bad. Still a little rough, but he's got potential!" Goku said. Goten and Trunks could only nod, while Cologne kept her comments to herself, although they were along the same lines as Gokus'. 

Ranma took that moment to point out, "He's only been training a few months. He didn't have much experience before he came to me." The Saiyans looked at him, somewhat surprised.

"You mean that he's that good after only a few months?" 

Ranma nodded. "Yup. Although what he did today was…"

"Different." Ryoga spoke up. They looked at him as he continued. "I've fought with him before, and while he was decent, he wasn't a match then. But…that was only about a week ago." 

He turned away from looking at the subject of the conversation and at them. "If he'd fought then like he did now against Kuno, I'm not sure who'd have won." 

"Oh common Ryoga. You'd have taken him, I'm sure of it." Ranma said, positive about it.

The Lost Boy turned to him. "Tell me Saotome, do you think you'd have beaten him if he could do that before?" Ranma opened his mouth to speak, then stopped.

"He's right Son-in-Law. His rage was so great, it's hard to say just what he would have done in battle." Cologne said wisely. 

At that moment the other two returned, and the conversation was dropped for the time being.

From the pond Genma just bubbled, still out cold. 

A rather large amount of that going around lately it seemed. 

*****************

"So, we ready to fight?" Barsoum cracked his knuckles, stretching out and basically warming up. 

Ranma, having been fighting most of the day, was already stretched out and warmed up, so he simply nodded, taking up his trademark stance opposite the American-Egyptian. From the porch sat Goku, Tank, Cologne, Ryoga and Akane. Soun had dragged Genma inside, still out cold, while Kasumi made drinks. Nabiki left not long after Kuno had been knocked out, mumbling something about 'pictures' and 'fortune' or some-such-or-other. Goten and Trunks had decided to take a nap for awhile, at least until it was time to eat.

Cologne watched with some interest at Ranmas' opponent. He was someone she'd never seen before, but he was just as confident as Ranma was. His stance showed great skill and practice as he went into it with ease, twisting his head this way and that to loosen up his neck.

Akane turned to Goku, asking, "Who do you think will win?" Goku pursed his lips, contemplating for a moment before he made his decision. 

"It's too close to call." He said. "Ranma has more energy, but this guy doesn't look like a pushover. There's also something strange about his energy…but I can't place it." He glanced at Tank. "It's not like yours either. It's something…different." 

Tank turned to look at the Saiyan, asking, "What about my energy?" 

Goku scratched the back of his head, "Well…it's nothing I've ever felt before really. You're pretty strong for being new to the martial arts, but what I felt earlier…it's something completely different." 

Tank cocked an eyebrow, and then shrugged, deciding to file the comment away for later thought, as Barsoum and Ranma took a few jabs at each other, testing. 

"He's not half-bad." Ranma surmised. "This could be quite fun." He smiled slightly in anticipation.

"Let's see how you smile when we really get into it kid." Barsoum thought, looking forward to a much higher class of competition than Tank had been able to give.

"Ready?" Barsoum asked, eyes narrowing.

Ranma nodded, saying simply, "Go."

Ranma charged quickly, going in for a crescent kick, but faking it and hitting Barsoum with a snap instead. It connected with his right forearm, short of Ranma's target. Barsoum then pivoted and fired a hard punch with his left, which was blocked, to be countered by shuto strike. Barsoum ducked it, going for a foot sweep, tripping the pig-tailed fighter down to the ground. Barsoum followed it up with a strike at Ranma's temple, but it missed at the last second as the cursed martial artist rolled away and rose, snapping off a quick roundhouse kick, forcing his opponent to back away for just a moment. The older man bounced around on the balls of his feet as Ranma came in with a flying kick, but was caught in mid-air and thrown to the ground. Ranma rolled onto his back, launching himself backwards onto his feet, once again in stance, now openly smiling. 

"You're a lot better than I thought." He said. 

Barsoum smiled slightly back. "So are you." Round two began following that quick break.

For nearly thirty minutes the two fought, neither really gaining an edge over the other as they used all the normal techniques they knew. Every so often, they'd score a hit on each other, but neither one had more hits than the other. 

"This has been fun and all, but it's time I pulled out some of the more advanced techniques." Ranma backed away, avoiding a side-kick at just the last moment. "This had been one of the better workouts I've had in a long while. But it's time to end it."

"My thoughts exactly. Let's go!" Barsoum hopped around , changing his feet position several times, as well as where his arms hung. 

"Alright, here I come! Kachu Tenshien Amaguriken!" Ranma launched his Chestnut Fist attack, fully expecting to drill the foreigner and end the fight. 

Much to his surprise, his punches didn't seem to even touch his opponent! "What!?" He cried out in surprise, then flew backwards from a direct hit to his solar plexus. 

He held the spot for a moment, slightly winded as Barsoum asked, "Surprised? You're not the only one with special tricks you know." Ranma chuckled. 

"Ok…guess I underestimated you. But I'll get you this time!" He came in again, throwing his punches even faster than before, yet as before, none connected. Barsoum just looked at him with a smile.

"You can do that all day man. Won't faze me." This time Ranma flew backwards from a hard kick to his gut, knocking all the wind from him.

_"Man! Why isn't the Chestnut Fist working? Why can't I touch him._" He grunted with some effort, and then jumped back up onto his feet, closing in the blink of an eye and acted as if he was going to punch again, but kicked instead. He felt the leg touch Barsoum's blocking arm, and he instantly pulled out the Chestnut Fist attack as a follow-up. 

This time, he felt a couple of his hits actually touch Barsoum, before once again passing through his form as if he wasn't there. They pulled apart, panting slightly.

"Nice one." The older man said, bowing slightly in respect. Ranma bowed in return. 

"Pretty good trick you have there, phasing in and out. Never seen that technique before."

Barsoum shrugged. "Something I created on my own. But you haven't seen my best tricks."

Before Ranma could respond in kind, Tank called out, "Maybe later man. We still have other training to do." He walked over towards the two fighters, and said wryly towards his friend. "Still think he'd be a pushover?" 

Barsoum shrugged. "Ok, you didn't lie. He's pretty good." He turned back towards Ranma, and held out a hand. "That was really fun. You moves are pretty polished. I can see why Tank has been improving." 

Ranma took it, saying, "So are yours. We'll have to finish this when we have more time." Barsoum nodded as Goku, Ryoga and Akane walked up.

"Great match you guys!" Goku said. "Those were some really good moves. I couldn't tell who would win the whole time!" Barsoum did a little "Awww, shucks," in a very poorly done hillbilly accent, causing everyone to break out in laughter a bit.

Akane turned to her fiancé, and said, somewhat crossly, "I hope you saved some for tonight." 

"Tonight?" Both Barsoum and Tank asked, glancing at each other. 

"Yea, tonight we're going to a Martial Arts Techno Rave Competition." At this both men scratched their heads.

"How the hell do you have a martial arts contest as part of a rave?" Tank asked aloud. Barsoum shook his head, at a loss.

Akane and Ranma asked together, "You know what it is?" 

The two men shrugged, as Tank replied, "Well…I know what a Rave is. It's where they play computerized music at a dance club for hundreds of folks to dance too. There are hundreds of different types of Techno music, but for a Rave I think they play the really fast-paced stuff. Hardcore, Jungle, things like that." 

Everyone around him, except Barsoum, was lost. This fact wasn't misplaced on Tank, so he pulled out a necklace with some tags on it. He slowly swung it back and forth as he explained.

"See, regular music goes at a steady beat. The stuff you hear on the radio might have a beat that goes about this fast, like maybe thirty to at most sixty beats per minute. Now Hardcore or Jungle…it goes as fast if not faster than this." His hand almost against the tags, he swung the chain back and forth as quickly as he could. "Hardcore and Jungle goes as fast as one-hundred and forty beats per minute, and sometimes faster. Excellent dance music if you're a fast paced dancer."

Barsoum broke everyone attention away from the tags as he said, "Bet that's what they'll play then for the competition." Tank nodded, and the others could see the logic in that. 

Well…all except Goku. "You mean we have to dance? Or fight?"

Tank shrugged. "Guess both." 

Goku groaned, "Man…this is confusing." He chuckled a bit, his hand on the back of his head.

Ranma turned back to Tank, asking, "How about it? There's cash prizes for the winners."

Both men perked up, a cash register ringing almost audibly. "How much?" They asked simultaneously. 

Nabiki called out, almost as if reciting a poem. "It's an American held competition, so they're paying in dollars. About $100,000 for first place, and $50,000 dollars for second, and $10,000 for third."

When the figures were bouncing around in their heads for but a second, they both exclaimed, "I'm in!"

"Great! This should be fun!" Goku exclaimed.

The rest nodded, and then Ryoga asked, "Goku, how about we do some more training?"

Goku smiled broadly. "You bet!" And with two new students, they all began doing more work on energy usage.

From the porch Cologne just looked at Barsoum and Tank with sharp eyes. "Those two are hiding more than they let on. There is no such technique that lets an opponents attack to pass through you. If there is, then I shall have to acquire it for the tribe." She nodded her head sagely, and then thought, "It'll have to be done after I return from sealing Goku's world from Toltir. Then, with my stronger Shampoo, it should be no problem to get the technique from the young man." She smiled slightly while watching the group train.

****

_Later on the day….._

Tank and Barsoum were off to the side of the dojo seeming to stare off into space, but were in reality working hard to play catch-up with Akane and Ranma to get the basics of energy usage down. Ryoga had picked up on it quickly, so it was just the two foreigners who were left. Goku stood nearby, waiting paitently with his arms crossed.

Slowly, bit by bit, Barsoum started to levitate. His greater experience in the marital arts was helping him greatly. Tank continued to try to find his energy center, but for some reason wasn't quite able to get it. 

Barsoum finally reached about three feet off the ground when he relaxed completely, dropping back to the dirt hard. He panted a bit, having exerted more strength than he expected.

"Hmmm...you did good, but that shouldn't have worn you out so much." Goku rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe more practice."

Barsoum nodded. "This is some hard shit. Hell of a challenge."

Tank let out a sigh of frustration, seemingly unable to get it. "I don't know what the deal is man. I should be getting this." 

"You're trying too hard man." His friend told him. "Just give it time. I've got more experience and it took me awhile to even go three feet."

Goku added, "Once you've got some more martial arts experience under your belt and become stronger you should do alright." 

Tank thought it over, then nodded. Still, he couldn't help but feel as if there was something he was missing. He dismissed the thought for the time being. "I'll figure it out later. I'll have plenty of time I'm sure to think about it."

Kasumi came around the corner, smiling cheerfully. "Dinner will be ready shortly."

"Alright!" Goku exclaimed, zipping by Kasumi with a flourish, sending her skirt flying high behind her. In embarresment she held it down, flushing profusely. Both soldiers wisely looked away for a moment before turning back. 

"Thank you Kasumi. We'll be in shortly." Tank smiled. Kasumi nodded then went back inside. Tank's smile then turned slightly evil.

Barsoum noticed it too. "What are you plotting dude?" He asked warily.

"Nothin much. I just need some rope, and a phone." Tank replied innocently. Much too innocently.

His friend just stared for several minutes, then decided it was best not to ask.

****************

Not long after the group had taken off for the nightclub a group of zookeepers decended on the Tendo home, quickly surprising and trapping Genma who was still in Panda form. They had moved so quickly he didn't even have time to raise a sign in his defense. 

Course he was heavily tied up with some very good rope, so that could be the problem there.

"Good thing we got that call. Almost thought we'd lost you." One of the keepers said, helping to shove Genma into the animal wagon. 

The driver of the truck went up to the stunned Kasumi, filling something out in a checkbook of sorts. "Sorry that this happened Miss. I'm glad it was called in though before something horrible could have happened. Here you go." He pulled the slip of paper out and handed it to her.

She gazed at it for a moment before asking, "What's this for?"

"It's the reward for the capture of the panda. Again, we're sorry for this." He bowed quickly, then went back to the truck, driving off with a very distraught Genma.

Kasumi looked at the figures, and had to blink a couple times. "Oh wow...this will help us out a lot." She started to smile cheerfully, and then went back into the house, making sure to put the check in a good place where she wouldn't lose it.

"What an interesting day it's been." She mused.

****

To be continued…


	8. Chapter 7: Heading for the competition

**__**

A Soldier in Tokyo  
  
Chapter 7: Heading for the competition

Dusk slowly settled across Nerima, throwing shadows across the buildings and people as they walked about in the cool summer air. Streetlamps clicked on automatically, and lights inside people's homes were turned on. 

On the streets, people walked about, some with nowhere to go, others heading out early as part of the nightlife. One large group was part of the latter, heading deeper into the city. Nabiki lead the way, with Goten and Trunks beside her, and Ranma, Goku, Akane, Tank, Barsoum, and Ryoga trailing behind. 

Ranma turned to Tank. "So what will we actually have to do?" 

"Why you asking me?" 

"We have a deal, remember?" Ranma reminded Tank of the deal they had made. In order for Tank to get training from Ranma, he had to promise that he'd give any information he knew, which, since he came from a different world (although only Ranma and Nabiki knew that) like Goku, he knew a lot.

Unfortunately… "Well, I can honestly tell you I haven't a clue. Never heard of anything like this back home." 

Ranma grunted, still curious, but resigned to the fact that he'd have to learn about it the same time everyone else did. 

Goku looked about, curious about everything they passed, when Tank called out, "Hang on a sec guys…" And he disappeared into a shop for a few moments, to return with several short plastic tubes, filled with a dull liquid. He started to pass a couple out to each person, even Nabiki, saying, "You guys might want these."

"What for?" Ryoga said incredulously. Tank simply smiled back cheerfully.

"You'll see. Just hang on to them till we get in." He stashed the last few into his pocket, and they continued on, making idle small talk until they came up to a tall, concrete building, with a long line outside, waiting for the place to open. A large neon sign announced to all that it was the Club Electric, although the 'L' on the Club flickered, changing the name to 'Cub' Electric. Above the double doors was a white banner, announcing the location of the Martial Arts Techno Rave Competition, hosted by…

"Ken Masters?" Tank muttered, surprised. 

"You know him?" Nabiki asked. 

"I just know he's a wealthy guy, and a top-notch martial artist in the Shotokan Karate form." Ranma and Ryoga both perked up at the mention of the very hard-hitting Karate art, while Nabiki's eyes glittered almost deviously. "More likely with ideas on getting into the wealthy man's pockets." Tank thought, shaking his head.

The doors opened, and the line slowly started to move forward, then split into two lines, one for fighter registration, and the other for folks just coming to the club for a good time. 

As the Nerima/Z Fighter group closed in on the desk, they could hear the slightly bored registration mans voice. "Pay 1000 yen, sign your name, your style of fighting, wait till you get stamped and then you may go into the club." 

"Huh, there are a few fighters here." Goku noticed as he scanned the line. Ranma shrugged, not really interested as they moved forward. 

"Probably has more to do with Masters name than the money, although they might be here for the money. Hard to say really." Tank thought aloud.

"Doesn't matter, it'll make this more interesting." Barsoum said, slightly absently as he gazed at those of the fairer sex, somewhat longingly. Tank smacked his buddy, who quickly shot back, "Hey! It's a club! Why do you think they come here dressed like that for?" 

Tank flushed slightly, having forgotten about things like that. Barsoum shook his head as he said, "You don't get out enough man."

"Tell me about it." He muttered as Trunks and Goten came up to the desk.

Again, the man at the desk said in a bored tone, "Pay 1000 yen, sign your name, your style of fighting, wait untilllllllhey wait a minute!" The man jumped up on his feet, finally noticing that it was two kids standing before him. "You can't go in and fight!"

The two kids looked at each other, then the man, saying together, "Why not?"

"Well…wha…" He blubbered about, floundering for a moment before finally saying, "You're children!" 

"Uh huh!" Goten said cheerfully, as Trunks tossed out, "So?"

"Well…ah…er…" He shifted through his little rulebook, and didn't find anything that kept kids out, and sighed, defeated. "Ok, fine. Pay your money, sign, yada yada." Nabiki paid for them, and finished the form, which the man read over carefully.

"Hmm, Trunks and Goten. Fusion style fighting?" He shook his head, muttering, "Don't you know what martial arts style you do?" 

"Well, yea." Trunks answered. "That's it. But we've never done this before."

"Do tell." He said dryly. He gestured to his aide, and they both got a stamp on their hands as he called, "Next!"

Ranma paid, filled out the form. The man just sighed at the age of the pig-tailed fighter, feeling that the world was out to make his life harder than it already was as Ranma got his stamp.

"Next!"

"Akane Tendo…age 16." He sighed, and waved her on.

"Next!"

"Ryoga Hibiki. Age 16?" He growled slightly. Ryoga growled back. 

"Next!"

Barsoum walked up with a slight swagger, asking, "You guys have any Tupac in this club tonight?" 

The doorman shook his head madly. "No no no no. No Tupac."

"Well why the hell not!" Barsoum said indignantly, hands on his hips. 

"Because that is not techno music!" He shot back.

Barsoum cursed under his breath, before finally saying, "Fine." He filled out the form.

The man smacked himself on the forehead as he read the style of fighting, which Barsoum happened to write down in Arabic, before calling, "Next!"

"Tank?" The man thought for a moment. "Just what kind of name is that? You sure don't look like a tank."

Tank leaned forward slightly, and in a low voice said, "That's because I drive a tank. Care for me to drive it through the door here?"

"Ahh…no. Not really." The man gulped, realizing that he needed to learn to keep his big mouth shut once in awhile. 

Tank straightened, smiling cheerfully. "Good. Here's my fee." He handed the money over. He got a stamp in return, and walked in.

"Next!"

"Goku." The man read the form, happy to finally have an older man at his desk. He couldn't possibly be a problem compared to the others. "Uh, you forgot to put down your style of fighting." 

"Huh? Where's that?" 

"Right here sir." The man pointed. 

"Oh. Well…I really don't have any particular style of fighting anymore." Goku chuckled slightly, scratching the back of his head.

The man pounded his head into the table.

*** * * * * **

Not long after, everyone was gathered around the fighting ring, having been given a fighting slot automatically as they entered the competition, although there was a little switching around as fighters entered. Trunks and Goten vs. a fighter named Joe Higashi, Ranma vs. a young man named Kenneth, Ryoga vs. a girl named Sakura, Barsoum vs. Tank, Goku vs. a wrestler named Zangief, Ken Masters vs. a man named the Spitting Cobra, and at least a dozen other fighters. 

In the shadows of a balcony, a powerfully built man with pupil less eyes watched from under the brim of his large military style hat. "This has to be one of your ideas Geese." 

Beside him, a tall blonde headed man, wearing a business suit and with a vicious scar running across an eye smirked. "No. I had nothing to do with this. This is all Ken Masters doing."

The other man grunted. "I have more important things to do than to follow a strange street fight, even if Ken Masters is here. I have no use for him." 

"Please Bison, stay and keep me company then. I'm told that this should be an interesting competition, even if the whole music thing is a waste of time." 

The head of Shadowlaw looked at the King of Southtown. "And what makes you so sure that there is anything here of interest to me?" 

"Well, I can tell you that the girl named Sakura is close to Ryu. She'll be fighting here tonight, thinking she'll get closer to him this way." Geese turned to face Bison. "Also, there just might be some good fighters here for your little purposes."

Bison settled his powerful body into his chair, his only cue of his acceptance of Geese's point. His voice rumbled slightly, a hint of threat in it, "This had better be worth my time." 

Geese just smiled, not really fearing the powerful crime lords' threat. 

*********

From deeper in the shadows on the ground floor, a being of great evil stood with his powerful arms crossed over his chest. He wore a dark colored gi, tattered at the ends and lacking sleeves. Instead of a regular rank belt, he wore a simple rope to hold his top closed, and a string of large beads around his neck. His eyes glowed red and his red hair constantly seemed to move in the air. He had no real interest in the competition either, and under normal circumstances he wouldn't have even been in such a place. However, he'd felt an incredible power surge not long ago, followed by several more over the past several days. 

_"Finally, there may be one who can stand against me."_ Akuma's lips opened to reveal a row of jagged teeth in anticipation of a real battle. Anyone seeing his smile would have probably died of a heart attack, as his smile lacked all compassion and pleasantness. It was the smile of a hunter, who had smelled worthy prey.

His fights with Ryu and other street fighters had been lacking in challenge, although Ryu was the obvious heir to the Dark Hadou. In spite of that though, Ryu hadn't been able to defeat him, the Master of Fists.

Akuma rumbled slightly, feeling the strong presence of the warriors he'd been seeking. He looked over at the assembled fighters, looking for the ones he'd sensed, and locking in on Goku. "He is the one." He said aloud, feeling his blood boil from an excitement he hadn't felt in years. Now wasn't the time for action though. Now was a time to watch, and learn. The time for action would show itself to him soon.

However, he couldn't remove the smile from his lips. 

**************

As the group moved into the fighter's waiting area by the ring, Tank couldn't surpress a shudder. 

Barsoum glanced at his friend, cocking an eyebrow. "What's eating ya?" 

"I don't know man." Tank responded, shuddering again. "I just have a bad feeling all of a sudden."

Barsoum leaned in. "Yea man. I'm feeling it too. Something ain't right here." 

"Got any ideas what it is?"   
"No." Barsoum cocked his head slightly in a partial shrug. "Beats me."   
"Guess we'll just have to run with it. Shit hits the fan though, we book it." Tank proposed, tossing a thumb in the direction of the entrance. 

"What? And leave all the lovely ladies here? Common, we can't do that!" Barsoum grinned, dismissing the odd feeling he'd been getting.

Tank sighed. "Alright. We'll go with Plan B. We ride off with the women and hope to hell they don't shoot us afterwards." 

"They wouldn't shoot a stud like me now."   
"Oh yes they would. Matter of fact I could be bribed into giving them the bullets." Tank quipped, letting their usual banter ease the forboding feeling he still had.   
Barsoum placed a hand over his heart in simulated pain. "That hurts...but I'm Egyptian."   
"So?"   
"Didn't you know that Arabs are natural weapons dealers? That means I'll get a better deal when I sell them the weapons to do the shooting." Barsoum grinned triumphantly.   
"Oooooh...you've got a point there. I've got you beat though."   
"How? You're my bitch, admit it."   
"No way. I'm of Irish and German descent." Tank smiled broadly.   
"How's that beat me?"   
"Easy. I'll give'em good beer and start a brawl faster than you can sell the guns." 

"Damn...oh sorry, I was looking at that hot chick over there." Barsoum looked off to the right.

"Wow. Good eyes." Tank nodded apprecitively, dropping the banter like an anvil.

A young Japanese woman swayed her hips to the music. She wore a form fitting blue-white halter top leaving her trim stomach exposed, black pants with string seams that showed off great amounts of smooth leg underneath, a giant diamond studded belt and black short heels. Her short black hair swayed in rythm with her motions, the muscles in her stomach moving slightly as she danced. She smiled coyly at the group, and at one very happy Egyptian in particular.

"Dude..." Barsoum said with a grin. "This could be a very interesting evening."

It was going to be an interesting evening indeed...

**************

****

To be continued…


	9. Chapter 8: Techno Battle? Ready Go!

**__**

*Authors Note: You're right RLB. That last part wasn't in the Dragonball Z Meets Ranma 1/2 story. In that chapter and this one (and the next), I focus a bit more on Tank and Barsoum, while in the other I focus mostly on Ranma and DBZ.   
  
Well, best get back to it! ^_^

_**A Soldier in Tokyo**_

****

_Chapter 8: Techno Battle? Ready….GO! Part 1_

As fighting rings go, it wasn't exactly impressive. Nor was it overly elaborate. It was a simple, flat, raised teak hardwood dance floor with elastic ropes encircling it on its perimeter. The whole first floor of the club was a dance floor, but this was the one where the more talented or excited dancers would get on to show off. A rectangular area had been roped off by the 'ring' for the fighters as a waiting space, while one of the men's restrooms played the part of a changing area if needed. Goku and the others stood next to the ring, checking out the place and their opponents.

"Hey Goten," Trunks yanked on his friend's tunic, then pointed, "Check him out." 

The man Trunks pointed at could be more accurately called a bear. He wore a red cloak about his hugely muscled frame, covering his body almost from head to toe. His feet were in huge red wrestlers boots. His face was in a constant scowl, or so it appeared with his scraggly beard and thick Mohawk on his head. He stared into space, waiting patiently for his turn. 

"He's big." Goten said obviously.   
"Yea. He's the guy that'll be fighting your dad."   
"Really?" Goten looked the big man over again. "He seems kinda strong. Should be fun to watch." Trunks nodded his ascent. Zangief glanced in their direction and growled slightly. The two boys looked away, attempting to be innocent. Zangief snorted, and then went back to his staring, not really caring who he fought. 

"So where's the guy we're fighting?" Goten asked, looking about.   
"Beats me. Who cares though? It's just going to end up being us versus your dad anyways." Trunks surmised, stretching his legs out a bit to loosen up.  
"Yea, but I still wanted to see him."  
"You'll get to see him soon enough son. You two go easy though, ok?" Goku asked, hunched over.   
"Sure." Trunks acknowledged, then went back to stretching.   
"Ok Dad." Goten said happily, joining his friend in stretching.

*******************

_**In their own little world (nothing new there)…**_

"I'm so going to get my ass waxed here." Tank muttered. "Well duh. If you go into the ring like that you sure as shit will be." Barsoum admonished, well experienced in fighting matches like this from his time at home.

"I know that man." Tank kept looking at the other fighters. "But look at all the guys around us? These are **the** Street Fighters, and even a couple Fatal Fury guys too."

"Fatal Fury? What's that?"   
"It was another fighting game by another company called SNK. They made uh...The King of Fighters games."   
"Oh yea. That game sucked." Barsoum wrote it off.  
"Is was alright. The animes were better. Terry kicks ass." 

"Never saw'em."   
"You should see them sometime. If we can get back home, I'll let ya watch'em." Tank was ever hopeful that somehow he could get home, although that was still doubtful.  
"After being around you for this long? Fuck no. I'm going back to my girl!" The Californian native grinned, thinking happy thoughts.   
Tank sighed dramatically. "Oh...I see. Well...if you just...want to leave me..." He sniffed.   
"Damn right I do."   
"You bastard! I thought you loved me!" Tank even managed a small tear, but couldn't quite hold the emotion, and broke up laughing, Barsoum with him.  
"I couldn't keep my face straight." Tank shook his head, still chuckling.

"That ain't all you can't keep straight." "What are ya talkin about?" Tank looked at his friend quizzically.  
"You've been blown away back home, remember?"   
"Ya had to remind me. That's it. I'm so going to get in that ring and proceed to attempt to try to beat the shit out of you." This time he did keep his face serious, although the joking tone was still there.

"Shiiiit. At least you're not going in there thinking you'll die at the start." Barsoum nodded, pleased with the slight turnaround. His gaze moved to the other fighters, and he noticed someone he did recognize.

With a slight motion of his head, he asked, "Hey, isn't that Ken from the game?"   
Tank looked, and then grunted. "Yea. That's Ken, Joe Higashi, and Terry Bogard."   
"What do they know?" Barsoum queried. He knew somethings about the Street Fighter games, but overall he wasn't the major gamer like Tank had been. At least, not in this game. Tekken was more his thing.

"Uh, Ken knows Shotokan...," Barsoum muttered "Cool." under his breath at that, "...Joe knows Muy Tai kickboxing, and Terry uh...boxing of a type. I can't remember the exact style."   
"Should be interesting." Barsoum surmised.   
"If you say so buddy." Tank shook his head, his feeling of doom returning completely.

Ken, Joe and Terry seemed to be joking around, when Ken noticed a ref wave at him. With that Ken slipped past Joe and Terry, jumping up and slipping under the ropes of the ring before taking the microphone offered by one of the referees. 

"_Welcome everyone to the Martial Arts Techno Rave Competition! I am your host and fellow competitor Ken Masters and don't worry, you only have to fight. The music will be playing in the background as you fight but will really have no bearing on the conduct of the competition. Now for the rules. The rules are simple and straightforward."_ He paused for a moment before continuing. _"There is only one round per match. You win by either knock out, sending your opponent out of the ring, or if your opponent forfeits the match. There is no time limit, but then we're not expecting many of these fights to last long."_

There was some murmuring among the fighters and spectators. Ken continued, _"You all know the official amounts that the club is giving out. All the rest of the proceeds will go to charity. However there is a hidden winners prize. That will be announced at the conclusion of the competition."_

He turned serious for a moment. _ "This may be a charity competition, but it is a mostly no-holds barred fight. The only exceptions is that you may not use weapons, and you may not use killing blows. Failure to comply will get you kicked out, and may get you arrested, or so I've been warned."_ He motioned to the row of police officers who stood with batons at the ready.

_"And now, I'll hand this back to the referee, and we'll get started. Good luck everyone." _He tossed the microphone back and quickly leaped out of the ring. The referee pulled up his clipboard and called for the first fighters.

************************

**_In the balcony…_**

"I've had enough Geese. This has been a waste of my time." Bison rumbled. His body tensed up as he started to move when he heard the names of the fighters.

_"Trunks Briefs and Goten Son versus Joe Higashi. Please step into the ring." _Bison blinked several times, as did Geese, as they watched two young lads easily jump over the ropes and take up an equal distance apart in the ring. A bemused (or embarrassed, hard to tell at a distance) Japanese man parted the ropes and slid himself into place opposite of his opponents. 

_"What is it about those two children? Something feels different…maybe this will be more interesting than I thought." _ Bison thought as he relaxed back into his chair.

*******************

"Ready?" The ref pointed to Joe. He nodded. "Ready?" He asked again, this time pointing towards the kids. They nodded as well. "Go!" 

"Let's do it Trunks!" Goten yelled as loud, fast paced music filled the club.   
"Right! Fuuuuu." Trunks and Goten slid towards each other in the Fusion dance, arms extended. Joe, expecting an attack, had his arms upraised near his lowered head, balancing on one foot when they began the dance. 

"What are they doing?" He asked aloud, puzzled.

"Sion….HA!" A bright flash of light filled the arena, and when it passed a single boy stood in place of two. His black, purple streaked hair was upright, and he quickly spread his legs into a side horse stance, one arm high and the other low and against his body, both hands clawed. 

"Hi. I'm Gotenks. Let's begin." The boy said, smirking confidently. 

From the side, Goku sighed. "Oh man. This won't be good. I can just feel it." 

Tank shook his head, "Oh shit...there goes Joe."

Beside him Barsoum muttered, "That was cool."

**_THUMTHUMTHUMTHUMTHUM _**

The techno music played on as onlookers danced and watched. Beside Goku, Tank called out, "Hey, Gotenks…activate your chem lights!" He held up his own, bending it till it a small crack was heard, and it began to glow brightly. He shook it a moment, increasing its glow, and then tied it down to an arm. The rest of the group caught on and did the same, putting them in various places on their bodies or outfits.

Gotenks blinked, and then quickly did as told, and soon had two chemical lights lit, one red, the other green, with both of them attached to his legs. "Ok. Well, shall we fight?"

Joe just shook his head. "Whatever kid. This is some weird stuff, but Joe Higashi doesn't back down. Let's go! **Smashing Kick!**" The Muy Thai kickboxer suddenly shot forward, his leg extended, nailing the fused Saiyan child direct in the chest. Gotenks reeled backwards a step or two, and then quickly took up stance again.

Joe smiled. "Nice kid. You're pretty strong to take that and keep going." 

"You haven't seen anything yet buddy. **Charging Bull attack!**" Gotenks put his first fingers to his forehead and charged Joe with one of his ridiculous attacks he made up against Majin Buu. Goku could only hang his head. 

Surprisingly, it worked. Joe didn't see it coming, and also reeled backwards several steps before firing off a quick kick, then followed with a flurry of punches. Gotenks retaliated with a flurry of punches of his own, while blocking the expertly timed kicks of Joe at the same time. 

A fast paced beat was keeping time with their motions, seeming to be in synch with the fighters as the two glow sticks on Gotenks legs left contrails behind them as he moved. 

_"This kid is good! I might have to go all out!"_ Joe thought to himself, while making no headway against the amazingly agile child. His eyes narrowed as he jumped backwards to make some distance.

Gotenks didn't follow, wanting to see what the guy had in mind. "I feel you charging your energy. What are you up to?" 

Indeed a bright orange glow surrounded the kickboxer, as his muscles gained in bulk. "The gloves are off. Let's see if you're strong enough to handle a…" A forearm suddenly seemed to ignite in flame as he charged forward, screaming, "**Screw Upper!**" A burning red cyclone flew towards a surprised Gotenks, hitting and sending him up high into the air.

"Aaah! Not again!" He cried out, more in annoyance than pain. "That's it! Ha!" A golden glow filled the club as Gotenks made a quick jump to Super Saiyan and dispelled the attack just as a particularly loud and fast paced beat cresendoed into a loud kettle drum **Boom!**

He landed none the worse for wear, and smirked confidently. "I hope that wasn't your best." He beckoned to the stunned Joe. 

From the sidelines Terry gazed in surprise. "This kid is a lot stronger than I thought. He's too strong for Joe. I'm almost positive of it."

************************

**_Balcony…_**

"Did you see that?" Geese said to noone in particular.  
"I did. I want that power." Bison said, laughing silently to himself as he thought of the possibilities he could have with that power. _ "That power might rival the great Akuma."_ Bison thought to himself, although he was doubtful that anyone could possibly touch that level. Not even he with the Psycho Drive was quite able to handle him. 

****************

**_The Shadows…_**

Akuma's grin was wider than ever. He almost couldn't keep himself contained, so enthused with the prospect of battle with someone with such obvious potential, and a child no less. He looked greatly forward to when the older man that was with them went into battle.

*************************

**_The Ring..._**

"Ok, this doesn't look too good for our hero." Joe still couldn't help but smile. "I really didn't expect to use this technique yet. But you're leaving me with no choice. Come on, come and see my newest, most advanced technique!" He concentrated as he beckoned, his energy forming a large aura around him.

Gotenks needed no more invitation than that. "Time to finish this!" With a blur Gotenks almost vanished. 

Almost.

The glow from the chemical lights was all that Joe needed as a warning. He ducked down low, arms tighter than concrete as flames covered both. Gotenks appeared directly above Joe, arm extended and missing by a mile. 

"Wha…" 

"**Double Cyclone!**" Two cyclones of swirling red energy shot upwards, buffeting Gotenks and battering him high up into the ceiling. 

"What's with this place and tornadoes?!?! Enough is enough! **Hah!**" Again Gotenks went Super Saiyan, only this time he stayed there as his energy output quickly displaced and killed the double cyclones. Joe, in complete shock and exhaustion, dropped to his knees, gazing upwards at the Super Saiyan child.

"Impossible…that was my best attack." He muttered, when he felt a sudden breeze in front of him pass his sweaty face. He looked down to see Gotenks directly in front of him, his cyan eyes almost laughing as he smirked. 

"Not bad guy. But you're done." With a quick backhanded swing Joe was quickly knocked to the side of the ring, and the referee counted up to 15. Terry rushed over and helped slide the unconscious kickboxer out of the ring. 

"Joe? Joe, you alright?" 

"_First round goes to…ahh…the boy!_" The ref finally said, announcing the winner. 

Just a little more than three minutes had passed. 

Joe's eyes fluttered, then opened slightly. "Wha…what happened? I didn't even see the punch." 

"Just take it easy Joe. He got you with a backhand." 

"He…he backhanded…me? Sure doesn't…feel like it." With that Joe's eyes rolled up into his head. 

**********************

"You were right Geese. This is interesting indeed." Bison finally said aloud as they watched Gotenks, now back to normal, wave to the cheering spectators, the music still blaring. He quickly jumped out of the ring with the rest of the fighters, of which only a handful didn't back away. From his vantage point he could see several other fighters quickly forfeit their matches before they even got into the ring. 

"I want to know who they are." Bison ordered. Geese snapped his fingers, and a phone was placed into his hand. He spoke for only a moment, and then turned towards the Shadowlaw dictator. 

"Do you want to know all of them, or just the boy?" The King of Southtown asked.

"All of them that are around that boy. I don't care about the rest." Bison leaned forward to look at them all. At least three looked to be teens and the other three were adults, with the two…or is it one now?...boys rounding it out. 

"The list is being brought up as we speak." Geese said, also gazing at the group. He didn't care about the dictator's lust for power. He just wanted to know the techniques. Anything to defeat Terry Bogard.

**********************

Akuma's blood red eyes gazed at the group as well. He had finally managed to bring his chi level back down, reminding himself that this wasn't the time yet to engage in battle. He had felt the power surge, and knew there was more hidden than the boy had let on. This new knowledge he now used as he gauged Goku's power. He kept it hidden very well, but not nearly as well as the Master of Fists. 

_"There is no way he can hide all that power."_ He surmised. _ "He has enough energy to go to twice what the boy had. I can sense that both can go to more levels than that as well." _

His grin returned. "Either of them would be perfect. More than perfect." Akuma said aloud, taking deep breaths as he relished the thought of the incredible battle that will take place.

The question was…when.

**********************

Goku sighed, happy that things hadn't gotten out of hand as he feared. It wouldn't do to have Gotenks get carried away in a crowded place like this.   
"Good work." Goku said, patting Gotenks on the back.   
"Heh, it was easy." Gotenks boasted, laughing almost manaically.

Goku again sighed, and then shook his head. He was about to admonish him when he felt something…something pure evil. His gaze hardened and he quickly scanned the crowd, searching for the source of the evil energy. It passed quickly though, and hard as he tried, he couldn't lock in on it. He could still feel it, but it was very faint, as if it was being surpressed.

"Hmmm…" 

The others gazed at him. "Did you feel something?" Ranma asked, having felt something as well. He wasn't nearly as skilled when it came to detecting energy signatures though. Ryoga, Tank, Barsoum and Gotenks also had felt the energy surge, but were also in the dark as to what it was. Akane was just in the dark, much to her annoyance.

Goku nodded. "We're being watched, watched very closely. I can't find him though. This guy is shrewd." He crossed his arms, slightly frustrated yet excited at the same time. His gaze was still intent, but his face broke out into a slight smirk.

Gotenks looked up and saw the smirk, and had a little smirk of his own. "A challenge?" 

Goku didn't respond for moment, still searching. "Maybe. There are two others that are strong as well, up there in the balcony." Everyone in the group turned their gaze upwards to where he was pointing. They couldn't see anything though for the one-way mirror, but as they concentrated they could feel the strong energy of the occupants.

Tank shuddered slightly. "This is getting a bit strange. I'm beginning to feel like a frog in a jar." 

Barsoum cocked an eyebrow. "So? They want to watch, let them watch. I don't care."

Akane looked back and forth between speakers, then finally growled out, "What are you talking about? I don't see anything." 

"Don't worry Akane. It's probably nothing." Ranma shrugged it off, hiding the sense of foreboding he had.

************************

Bison frowned. "This is unexpected. How do they know anyone is up here?"

Geese waved it off. "Calm yourself Bison. This is the high-paying booth after all. They're probably just making some small talk." 

The Shadowlaw dictator faced the King of Southtown. "Somehow I doubt it. Where is that list?"

Geese turned to an aide who started to place it in his boss's outreached hand when it suddenly flew away and landed in Bison's grip. The scarred man angrily faced the impassive dictator. "There was no need for that. I was going to give it…" 

"Enough." Bison interrupted, shutting Geese up solidly. For his part Geese settled back into his chair, deciding to forget the rudeness for the time being. 

"Hmmm…Goku Son, Goten Son, Trunks Briefs, Tank, Barsoum, Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendo, and Ryoga Hibiki." He turned the names over in his mind, contemplating. _"I have no use for those teens, or with this 'Tank' and 'Barsoum.' But the other three…they could be useful. I shall watch them fight and see if this man, this 'Goku' is as powerful as his son."_ He was certain that the other Son was the child of Goku. The family resemblence was impossible to miss...at least when he was separate from the other boy. He nonchalantly tossed the list back to Geese, who deftly caught the clipboard.

*******************

_"Ladies and gentlemen," The ref called out to get everyone's attention. "Due to a sudden influx of forfeitures, we have re-arranged the fighting schedule. Our next match will be Goku Son versus Zangief. Would you please step into the ring?"_

"I'm up!" Goku said cheerfully, smashing his fists together, twisting his head this way and that to crack his neck and loosen it up. With a slight hop he cleared the ropes and landed in the middle of the ring. 

_**DOMDOM…..DOMDOM…..DOMDOM….DOMDOM**_

The music took a decidedly darker turn as it got deeper and somewhat slower.

Barsoum cocked his head to the side, thinking. "Hey...that sounds like one of the songs we used to spar to in the barracks."   
"From the Mortal Kombat CD?" Tank asked, having been thinking the same thing.  
"Yea."  
"It does sound like it."  
At that moment the Russian wrestler known as Zangief slid into the ring, still draped in his large red cloak.

"Whoa…you're a big guy." Goku muttered, rolling his shoulders around a bit. 

Zangief ignored the comment as he deftly undid the tie on his cloak, and then tossed it aside with a flourish. 

Goku blinked a couple times at the sight before him. "Guess he was bigger than I thought." Zangief practically towered over the 5'6" Goku. His burly chest had a splash of thick hair covering it almost in a star pattern. He wore a yellow belt over red trunks and that was pretty much all he had on, other than the boots. But then, it was doubtful he could wear normal clothing without costing an arm and a leg, so bulked up as he was from head to toe. 

He almost seemed to stalk into position, his gaze locked on Goku, who gazed back with a smirk. 

"This should be fun." Goku said as he took up a relaxed yet ready posture. Zangief hunkered down slightly, with his massive hands extended slightly, ready to grab and hurl anything.

"Ready? The ref pointed to Goku. He nodded. "Ready?" He pointed to Zangief. 

"I shall crush him." Zangief said gruffly. 

The ref gulped as he mumbled, "I'll take that as ready. Go!" He pratcially leapt out of the ring, just to make sure he wasn't the one crushed.

With a mad rush Zangief charged, arms outstretched, music speeding up with him. Before Goku knew it Zangief had him in a tremendous bear hug. 

"Wha…" Goku managed to get out before the Russian started one of his most powerful techniques. Shadows trailing behind him, he pulled a suplex, then another, driving Goku's head into the ring each time, contrails from the Saiyans' chem lights following. As Zangief moved his skin became redder and redder. With a quick flip Zangief tossed the Saiyan high into the air, then leapt after him, and grasped him into the hardest bear hug he could, arms and legs wrapped around Goku's body as he spun about faster and faster. 

"Eyah!" With a loud cry Zangief finished his attack, slamming Goku into the ring and bouncing away to land on his feet while Goku bounced over to the far side, face down. The ref rushed over and started the countdown, and reached 10 when Goku flipped onto his back, and then flipped himself unto his feet.

He twisted his head this way and that, cracking slightly. "Not bad." He smirked as he took up a stance again. Zangief took a deep breath in reply. 

"Let's do it!" Goku cried out as the music increased in tempo again. He charged the big Russian, lashing out in several lightning fast kicks and punches, which the big man managed to either deflect or take direct. Zangief countered Goku's next attack by grabbing him, jumping upwards and slamming the Saiyan down on the floor. Goku flipped back up, sweeping his opponent off his feet. Zangief managed to land and roll backwards, coming up in a crouch. Goku charged again, but was driven back by a swing from one of Zangiefs meaty arms. 

Zangief came up as Goku slid forward to land a hard punch to his solar plexus when the Russian cried out, "Eyah!" Spinning almost in place with his arms outstretched into large hard fists, he caught Goku by surprise, hitting him once, twice, three times before stopping. The Saiyan staggered backwards a bit, and then fired off a quick energy blast. Zangief countered by sidestepping and spinning about, a green ball of energy in an open fist. Goku's blast missed, but Zangief's backspin sent Goku reeling to the side to bounce off of the rings. 

Goku shook his head then looked at the big Russian who hadn't taken much in the way of damage. "I see you're not new to energy attacks." Goku chuckled.

Zangief nodded. "I am enjoying this greatly. You are putting up a good fight."  
"Thanks. So are you. Shall we finish this up?"   
The Russian nodded, ready.

Goku took up his trademark tiger stance quickly before vanishing with a blur. "Come on, hit me." Goku appeared in front of Zangief, who struck out, only to hit nothing but an afterimage, contrails from the glow sticks seeming to flow about in a circle around the big Russian.   
"No, over here." He swung again to the right, hitting another afterimage.   
"No no no, here." Another swing, this time left, missing again. In frustration he stuck a leg out, and was rewarded when he felt Goku's foot trip over it 

"I have you now little man!" He cried, grasping out in a bear hug…only to see Goku flip in mid fall and vanish again. "Where do you go? Fight like a man!" Zangief yelled as the music seemed to slow again. Just as the music played a loud bass boom, Zangief felt a tap on his back. He spun about, swinging a meaty fist as hard as possible, determined to take his opponents head off. 

Goku simply held up his hand and blocked the strike as if it was nothing. He smiled cheerfully, yet his gaze didn't weaken. Zangief pulled his fist back, preparing to try again when Goku's elbow suddenly appeared in his sternum, driving the wind out of his lungs and doubling him over. The ref cautiously came over and began the count. Zangief struggled a bit, but couldn't get his body to respond the way he wanted to, and wasn't' able to beat the count.

_"The winner of the second match is…Goku!"_ Goku raised his arms to the ceiling yelling, "Yeah! Ha Hah!" 

He turned back to his opponent, and stretched out a hand to help the big man up. Zangief glanced at it warily, then took it.   
"Those were some good moves you used. If you weren't quite so bulky you might have given me some more trouble than you did." Goku said with a smile.   
Zangief seemed to just glare at Goku, then finally broke out into a grin and laughed heartily. "You are a good man, and a great fighter Goku. I shall double my efforts."   
"You do that. Maybe we'll fight again some day." Goku said cheerfully.  
They clasped hands for a moment in a show of respect, then they both got off the ring so the next match could begin. 

Seven minutes had passed from the start of the match to the end.

**********************

**_The Shadows…_**

Akuma was much calmer now, and had anaylized the fight with a trained eye.   
_"He was playing with him. His assessment might have been correct, but he was never in any danger from that big oaf." _ Akuma had never wasted his time with the Russian, feeling he wouldn't have been much of a challenge. Having watched a demonstration of all the abilities that he had, Akuma felt he'd been justified. He may have taken a few hits, but in the end, the Master of Fists would have won. 

As usual.

_"I shall watch some more, but the time to battle is soon coming at hand."_ Akuma could feel his blood start to boil again, his skin becoming slightly darker as the Dark Hadou within demanded violence.

"Soon. Soon." He told himself.

**_To Be Continued……  
  
Part 2 will conclude the competition, although not in the way that you'd expect. Will Barsoum kick Tank's ass? Will Tank get his ass kicked? These and many other important yet seemingly exactly the same questions will be asked, and maybe even answered partially in the next installment. Stay...uh...bookmarked? Bleh, tuned sounds better._**


	10. Intermission

**_Intermission…._**

Ranma scratched his head in confusion, then turned to Goku and asked, "Goku, can I ask you a question?"

Goku smiled and replied, "Sure!"

"Is it true that the Romans had a holy chicken?"

Goku held his chin a moment, and then nodded. "Why yes Ranma. The Romans believed in many different religions, but in battle they didn't always get to pay homage to all the gods the right way, so they found alternate methods to do the job. The Holy Roman Chicken was one of them."

"Oh…but Machiavelli didn't believe in the Chicken?" Akane asked now, puzzled.

A new voice interrupted, deep and gravely. "No. Machiavelli believed in only one thing, to rule by the strongest means possible." Vegeta walked up to the group, his arms crossed. 

"Now that's not true Vegeta!" Goku exclaimed. "He only suggested killing off the ruler and his or her entire family and then moving in. Has nothing to do with being strong."

"You're a fool Kakkarot. It's amazing that Stalin didn't just kill you, your stupidity and ignorance about the dialectic flow of history would just curl his toes." Vegeta growled.

"Ho Chi Minh knew about the dialectic too, but he didn't do everything like Stalin." Ranma pointed out. 

"You stay out of this boy! This is between me and Kakkarot!" Vegeta shot out a finger to punctuate his point. 

"I asked the first question though!" Ranma shot back, holding up his fist.

"Doesn't matter now boy. Especially since your campaign manager left you! So you lost your place in the race." Vegeta sneered.

"I never lose! I will win this election, for the Holy Roman Chicken has said so, and my first order of business will be to eliminate all opposition, starting with you!" Ranma shouted back. 

"There's no need for that Ranma." Ryu said, placing a calming hand on the lads shoulder. "The Revolution will take care of him. The people are speaking out against him, and they will continue to demand their bread and will storm his palace at Versailles."

"What?!?! The people storm my palace! Never!" Vegeta powered up to Super Saiyan, enraged at the thought.

"What the hell is up with this crap?" Barsoum said from a conveniently located and oh so very comfortable seat. "Since when did anime characters talk about Romans, Vietnam, campaign for election and Stalin???" 

"That's none of you business!" Vegeta yelled at the spirit. 

"Actually Vegeta, it is all our business." Xavier said as his hover chair floated in. "This is not normal, nor is having all of us here together."

"Sensei Xavier is right." Sailor Mercury said as she and the scouts followed the Professor. "There's some kind of rift in place, and we've all been placed in a limbo of some sorts."

Vegeta looked blankly at Mercury, and then with a blur appeared right next to her, and in an instant they were both making mad love….

*** * * * * * * ***

**"AAAAHHH!!!!!"** The author shot up in his bed, sweat beading on his forehead. He panted several times, his heart racing. His black cocker spaniel lifted his head from the floor, curious to see what his owner was doing. 

"Damn…that was crazy!" He said, wiping a hand through his forehead. The dog got up slowly and padded over to him, sniffing a couple times as he got close. The author smiled and reached down to pet the dog, and scratch behind the ears. 

"I tell ya pup, that was the weirdest dream I've had in awhile. I think my stories and my university work is starting to mix." He ran a hand through his short red hair, calming. "I need a break…thank god Thanksgiving is here though. Man it's been so long since I wrote a chapter…maybe I can write up a chapter or two so I can avoid this again." The author shuddered at the thought.

He patted the dog again, and said seriously, "Remind me not to read up on Machiavelli before bed next time." He lay back down, considerably calmer.

The dog, for his part, hopped up with some effort onto the bed and curled up besides his owners legs, sighing deeply from the effort. 

.......

**_Sorry folks. I figured I should give you something while I'm swamped with school and all the other necessary evils of life (work). I'll try to get something going on at least one story, but it all depends on how my latest paper goes (which happens to be on Campaigns and Elections). In case you're wondering, there were references to the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the rise of Communism in Russia, the Romans, Vietnam, and campaigns and elections._**

Hope you got a good chuckle at least. ^_^

RBL_M1A2Tanker  
A.k.a. "Tank" or simply, "The Author."

P.S. The holy Roman chicken thing is true.


End file.
